Two acts come to mind when John Nemeth’s salty 2009 Blind Pig LP Love Me Tonight hits the speakers: Slim Harpo and the Fabulous Thunderbirds. Nemeth manages to hit that nice sweet spot between Harpo’s snaky south Louisiana boogie and the classic Junior Wells big-city Chicago blues, a sweet spot the T-Birds knew so well. It’s no accident that the album has garnered Nemeth nominations for both Male Vocalist and Blues Album of the Year from Blues Blast Music Awards. Nemeth may not be a familiar name on the Houston blues scene, but the man has paid his dues. He worked with Anson Funderburgh filling in for Sam Myers after Myers was diagnosed with throat cancer, and got called on as a vocalist and harmonica player by Elvin Bishop on last year’s Grammy-nominated The Blues Rolls On. It’s just this sort of journeyman work that has molded Nemeth into one of the hottest rising acts on the American blues scene. This one will be hot and sweaty, just like it should be.
This article appears in Jul 16-22, 2009.