"Patterson's husky, insinuating vocals are ideally suited to the blues, soul, and rock chestnuts spotlighted on this recording...Gross anchors the pace for this set with effortless authority...Gussow's high-speed technical virtuosity and melodic invention on ['Thunky Fing Rides Again'] and throughout the recording are simply staggering....[I]t makes the heart glad that by joining forces with Patterson and Gross, the memorable music he created as one half of Satan and Adam lives on."
--Living Blues Magazine
"Sir Rod and the Blues Doctors have captured lightning in a bottle once again with Keeping it in the Family...a live thirteen track delight featuring new original songs, fresh covers, and past favorites"
--PhillyCheeze's Rock & Blues Reviews
Founded in the winter of 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic washed across America and the rest of the world, Sir Rod & the Blues Doctors are a joyous, unlikely ensemble--a three-man brotherhood dedicated to the project of keeping alive the vibrant sounds and spirit of blues master Sterling "Mr. Satan" Magee.
Atlanta-based singer "Sir Rod" Patterson is Magee's nephew; harmonica player / percussionist Adam Gussow was Magee's partner for more than three decades (1986-2018) in the Harlem blues duo Satan & Adam, featured in a Netflix-screened documentary by the same name.
With Mississippi blues veteran Alan Gross on guitar (and his homemade cigar-box guitars), Sir Rod & the Blues Doctors released their debut CD, Come Together, to rave reviews in the summer of 2020.
Now, two years later, they're back with a live album, Keeping It in the Family. Can blues be fun? They'll have you dancing with "Shake, Rattle & Roll," "Mustang Sally," and "Hot Tamale Baby." Can blues be original? Check out Patterson's slow blues, "The Perfect Crime," along with the Patterson/Gussow collabs, "Brother Sterling" and "Come Together," and the Satan & Adam favorites "Seventh Avenue" and "Thunky Fing Rides Again."
Rounding out the live set are homages to James Brown ("I Got You (I Feel Good)"), Bobbie Gentry ("Ode to Billie Joe"), and Joe Williams ("Every Day I Have the Blues"), plus several interludes in which Patterson and Gussow share their story as unlikely inheritors of the same master musician who have forged a new partnership out of a shared desire to carry on the flame.
Keeping It in the Family. Out now, in all digital formats and as CDs.
Rod Patterson, an award-winning dancer specializing in the fancy footwork of James Brown and Michael Jackson, brings his one-of-a-kind talents to the blues stage. Based in Oxford, Mississippi for the past twenty years, Adam Gussow, whom WXPN blues DJ Jonny Meister has called “one of the world’s finest blues harmonica players” and Blues Blast has called “one of the most intriguing individuals in the blues world” in a recent cover story, is acknowledged by his peers as a contemporary master; his one-man-band version of "Crossroads Blues" has drawn raves (and more than 4 million views) on YouTube. Anchoring the rhythm section, guitarist Alan Gross is known for his tasty playing and homemade cigar-box guitars.
