Dom Newton is a Liverpool based bluesman signed to Glasgow label Start a Riot Records and ‘Bouncy, Bawdy, Roots Music’ is his self-produced debut. He plays all the instruments: banjo, guitar, slide-guitar, mandolin, kazoo and harmonica.
At times flying close to being an all out vaudevillian, Dom has the voice to rekindle a new generation’s interest in Leadbelly acoustic blues as well as becoming a 21st Century ambassador for skiffle/rock ‘n’ roll in the tradition of Lonnie Donegan and Joe Brown.
His pre-occupations with sex and the female form are satisfyingly un-PC in word-play; a natural if somewhat graphic verbal update of the lyrics of, say, Chuck Berry on classics such as ‘My Ding A Ling’ and ‘No Particular Place To Go’. Dom, though, has also infused himself with other styles, recalling Hendrix (‘Sunflower’), The Bonzos (opening lines of ‘Army Song) and The Stooges (the rest of ‘Army Song’).
When not demanding “let’s have a butchers of your thrupenny bits” or celebrating the “shapely bosom” and “the soft sweet pussy” of ‘My Jezebella’, Dom makes some welcome room for introspection on tracks such as ‘Yours & Mine’ and ‘So Long Gone’.
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Best of all is ‘On Sunday Evening’ - a riposte to Craig David’s bragging ‘7 Days’ - on which Dom lists a different girl for each night of the week bar Sunday evening, when it’s finally off to church to seek absolution for his sinful ways. All of this to a slide-guitar blues that breaks into a Led Zeppelin ‘wig-out’ about halfway through.
At times the songs meander and ultimately I’m not sure where Dom can go with all of this; it would be a shame if he becomes marginalised as just an opening act that warms up the crowd for the main event. I’d like to hear his voice with a full band as I suspect he can be more than a ‘Scouser doing ‘The Commitments’’, particularly as he writes all his own songs.
Keep us posted, you filthy-minded young man.
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