Christopher Wyze’s bio says that he “hails from the southern hills of Indiana” but “draws his music from the story-rich musicsphere of the Mississippi Delta”. He cites that he has spent two decades as a blues standards frontman. In December 2023, the Nashville Songwriters Association proclaimed him to be “One to Watch” with their songwriter award.
‘Stuck In The Mud’ was recorded in the Muscle Shoals studios in Alabama (10 songs) and Clarksdale (3 songs). Frontman Christopher Wyze wrote all the songs, the lyrics of which are quite good, but the compositions reveal that Wyze played blues standards for two decades on the road. In addition, Wyze has a Johnny Cash-like voice, which somehow does not fit to the Muscle Shoals blues sound.
‘Stuck In The Mud’ is the debut album by Christopher Wyze & The Tellers, which is described by Big Radio Records label boss Johnny Phillips with a great sense of marketing as “a fresh sound with an old as mud feel”. When listening to ‘Stuck In The Mud’, it turns out to be a bit different. The sound is not very fresh and it is not muddy either.
The thirteen original songs on the album were all written during a stay in Clarksdale, Mississippi. He says, “In the Delta, the songs seem to write themselves.” Three of the songs were even recorded in Clarksdale at The Shack Up Inn. The other ten were also recorded in a historical setting in the Muscle Shoals studios in Alabama.
Even the record label on which this album is being released has some historical significance. Wyze’s debut album is the second release from Big Radio Records and is distributed by Select-O-Hits Records which was founded by Sam Phillips in 1960 and is still run by the Phillips family.
Christopher is the lead vocalist and plays harmonica. He is joined by Cary Hudson on acoustic and slide guitar, Gerry Murphy on bass, Dougals Banks on drums, Eli Hannon on Hammond organ and percussion, and Dana King providing backing vocals on the Clarksdale session songs 2,4, and 8. On the Muscle Shoals sessions, Eric Deaton plays electric, acoustic and slide guitar and adds backing vocals, Gerry Murphy plays bass and also adds backup vocals, Justin Holder plays drums, Brad Kuhn plays piano, organ, and Wurlitzer, and producer Ralph Carter adds percussion and backing vocals.
As cited, Christopher’s storytelling is an important element of the songs he presents. Certainly, none more so than with the opening track “Three Hours from Memphis” as he tells his own story. “Headed south on my way, started out years ago there today. Said you wanna make it, you got to play down in Memphis where you make your hay. I had big dreams to be a big thing, whiskey and women my full-time fling. They asked about me, said this kid can sing, but he ain’t Elvis, he won’t be the next king. Fifteen years of paying my dues, I did it on my own. I’m three hours from Memphis and I’m not turning back.” He concludes that “I am going to be making hit songs, going to be a star”.
It all sounds a bit too clichéd and too neat. It is all played well and the songs remain interesting thanks to the guitar playing of Eric Deaton (Alabama), who we still know as guitarist on Delta Kream of The Black Keys, and Cary Hudson (Clarksdale).
That produces nice songs like Back To Clarksdale and Caution To The Wind and makes session guitarist Eric Deaton the real star of the album.
Stuck In The Mud is a rather unimpressive southern blues album that has its strong points in the song lyrics of Christopher Wyze and the guitar playing of session guitarists Deaton and Hudson.
He continues his story on the title song as he brings out his harmonica in a Hill Country Blues tale citing his “heart attack, was broke and busted, don’t have a dime.” After the flood, I’m stuck in the mud”. His harmonica provides the lead into “Cotton Ain’t King” as he asks “Can you hear it growing. Echoes through a cotton boll? Songs of blues, restoring life, crying from the soul.” as he recites the birth of the blues and concludes “Cotton ain’t king, Blues is the king”.
“Soul on the Road” is a story about the life of a truck driver. Deaton switches to a National resonator guitar as Christopher cites “When Your life is the road, and the road is your life, you live a windshield movie … and brother, What the hell’s an ex-wife”. He rocks out slightly as he explains why he loves Clarksdale on “Back to Clarksdale”. On “Money Spent Blues”, he cites his lack of cash, but being a sucker for buying the latest hot item showing up in advertising and notes the preacher told his wife at the beginning that it was “for richer or poorer. So, you kinda knew what you were getting into.”
He advises to throw “Caution to the Wind” and declares “till the bitter end, the past is not your friend. He determined that “Hard Work Don’t Pay” and states “Well I done cashed my last paycheck. Sat down and wrote this song.” Some excellent slide work accompanies the song and the organ kicks in as well. “Life Behind Bars” is the story of the musicians that had dream of stars but now play the low-end bars. “But the bottle replaced ’em, chased him, didn’t get far. Now he’s playin’ for bar tabs and tips and plays busted guitars.”, a somewhat mournful tale complete with a crying harmonica and a tinge of country sounding like something Merle Haggard or Waylon Jennings might have sung.
Brad Guin guests on baritone sax on “Looking for My Baby”, a funky tune with a piano interlude as he searches for his girl that is no longer around. He exclaims that “People! You got to “Wake Up!” to the issues of the day without settling on the position he is taking. On “Good Friend Gone”, he tells another tale of his early life and states “wasn’t such a good kid, me and my friend were bad boys”. His buddy fell into bad company, and he offers the moral to the story “you get a choice ‘tween death and prison, you damn sure better choose that jail.” Dylan Johnson adds some washboard percussion to the song. He closes with “Someday”, one more story of the choices he made and the dreams he has as he states, “Someday I’ll look back on all I’ve completed, Won’t fit on my tombstone, Adventures and riches ten times repeated, Best get started before I’m full grown.”
The album debuts a master storyteller whose messages are worthy of repeated listens. Christopher’s deep voice brings similarity to some country style crooners. But the lessons and pains he releases are those of the blues.
Tracks:
01. Three Hours From Memphis
02. Stuck In The Mud
03. Cotton Ain’t King
04. Soul On The Road
05. Back To Clarksdale
06. Money Spent Blues
07. Caution To The Wind
08. Hard Work Don’t Pay
09. Life Behind Bars
10. Looking For My Baby
11. Wake Up
12. Good Friend Gone
13. Someday
Christopher Wyze & The Tellers – buy new CD
