Review: Yates McKendree – Need To Know
Yates McKendree – Need To Know
Format: CD – Digital / Label: Qualified Records
Release: 2025
Text: Pascal Wilhelm
With his debut album Buchanan Lane, Yates McKendree (son of Kevin McKendree, acclaimed session musician and owner of The Rock House studio in Franklin, Tennessee) almost hit the jackpot: it appeared on the 2024 Grammy ballot for the traditional blues category. Although he did not get a Grammy (but he played on Delbert McClinton’s album ‘Tall, Dark and Handsome,’ that did receive one), it shows Yates has a special talent, despite his young age.
His father states: “Because of Yates’s lifelong, intense dedication to blues and roots music, he has developed a direct line from his soul to whatever instrument he holds. When he sings and plays, you don’t just hear it, you feel it…deeply.”
‘Need To Know’ highlights Yates’s skills, remarkable style and taste as a multi-instrumentalist (on the album he plays guitar, sings, plays drums, upright bass, but also Hammond organ). The album contains originals (mostly co-written with Gary Nicholson) and covers (blues and R&B/soul) and again can be labelled as a traditional blues album.
I like the transpositions in Good As Gone and the cover Trickbag. I Can’t Stop seems to be Willie Dixon’s I can’t Quit You Baby but with different lyrics (the credits are for Dixon). I Wanna Go Home features Sean “Mack” McDonald singing and playing the drums. The album listens very well, Yates’s father managed to create a nice live sound.
Tide, an instrumental and last song on the album is a nice surprise. It sounds deeper than the other songs on the album, has great percussion and features a frantic guitar solo by Yates. Is this a sample of Yates’ next album? I hope so. His work is well cared for and firmly rooted in traditions, but perhaps a young guy like him, with his talent and resources, can add some new flavour to the blues.
Tracks:
01. Burnin’ Tears
02. Need To Know
03. Run It In The Ground
04. I Don’t Care
05. Trick Bag
06. Something You Got
07. See See Rider
08. I Can’t Stop
09. Give Me Time
10. Good As Gone
11. Ode To Billy Joe
12. I Wanna Go Home
13. Tide
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