Boudin Barndance reviews for 5 Feb 2026: Roomful of Blues, James Hunter Six

Written by Dan Ferguson on February 4, 2026 and posted in Boudin Barndance Reviews .

A look at the latest album from Rhode Island’s own Roomful of Blues called Steppin’ Out leads off this week’s BB reviews. Produced by bandleader Chris Vachon, it is the eight-piece group in its element delivering 14 hipshakin’ performances of a mix of known and obscure covers from the blues and R&B worlds. The band performs at the Greenwich Odeum in East Greenwich on February 21 and tunes from Steppin’ Out will no doubt be on the menu. We also take a look at the latest from the Grammy-nominated British soul singer James Hunter and his excellent band. Off the Fence from the James Hunter Six is the group’s debut for Easy Eye Sound Records and features Hunter moving between crooner and gritty soul singer and is highlighted by a rare duet with his longtime collaborator, the legendary Van Morrison. Let’s take a look.


Roomful of Blues
Steppin’ Out
Alligator Records

The band Roomful of Blues is an Ocean State institution, not to mention renowned worldwide. The group has been making music for what is now nearly 60 years. On its latest album called Steppin’ Out, the revered R&B ensemble introduces its newest lead vocalist in the singer DD Bastos. Former frontwoman of the New England-based band DD & The Road Kings, the dynamic Bastos moved into the featured vocalist role for Roomful beginning in 2024. The bedrock of the Roomful sound has always been the vast cave of blues and R&B songs in the annals of American music and applying its interpretive skills to it. With the soul-stirring vocals of Bastos as lead singer, Steppin’ Out finds Roomful mining that cave pulling out a treasure trove of songs originally recorded by a mixture of legendary and some not-so-well-known figures as Big Mama Thornton (“You Don’t Move Me No More”), Big Maybelle (“I’ve Got A Feeling and Tell Me Who”), Etta James (“Good Rocking Daddy”), Buddy & Ella Johnson (“Why Don’t Cha Stop It”), Jimmy McCracklin (“Steppin’ Up In Class”), Tiny Bradshaw (“Well Oh Well”), Z.Z. Hill (“You Were Wrong”), New Orleans great Smiley Lewis (“Dirty People”), and Sun Records blues legend Billy “The Kid” Emerson whose classic R&B burner “Satisfied’ leads off Steppin’ Out in rollicking fashion. Produced by guitarist and bandleader Chris Vachon, the 14 songs comprising Steppin’ Out are Roomful of Blues in its comfort zone using its expert song-picking skills to take each one of these chestnuts and make them its own while swinging mightily in the process. Says Vachon, “We always keep things fresh, and we keep the excitement level high. Playing this music is an immense amount of fun for us. And it’s just as much fun for our audience.” Let the good times roll! Visit www.roomful.com and sample tracks from Steppin’ Out at https://roomfulofblues.bandcamp.com/album/steppin-out.

Roomful of Blues celebrates the release of Steppin’ Out with a performance at the Greenwich Odeum on Main Street in East Greenwich on February 21. Show time is 8 pm.


James Hunter Six
Off the Fence
Easy Eye Sound Records

You want soul? Over the course of a solo recording career dating back some 40 years to the mid-1980s, British singer and songwriter James Hunter has delivered it in spades. Want a little mambo? Well, Hunter and his tight unit even deliver some of that via the leadoff track called “Two Birds One Stone” on the newest release from the James Hunter Six called Off the Fence. After four prior albums for soul label Daptone Records, this newest longplayer represents Hunter and company’s debut for Easy Eye Sound Records out of Nashville and helmed by Black Keys frontman Dan Auerbach. Moving easily between soulful crooner in one song and gritty soulshaker in another, Hunter has proven himself a masterful lead vocalist. For Off the Fence, Hunter joins forces with producer Gabriel Roth, also known as Bosco Mann, who among other things is co-founder of Daptone Records and probably best known as the bandleader, bass player, principal songwriter, and producer of Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings back in the day. Roth knows his stuff when it comes to soul stylings and good chemistry is all over the dozen tracks, all original Hunter compositions, making up Off the Fence. Much of that comes in large thanks to Hunter’s lockstep band which features Myles Weeks (double bass), Rudy Albin Petschauer (drums), Andrew Kingslow (keyboards, percussion), Michael Buckley (baritone saxophone) and Drew Vanderwinckel (tenor saxophone). It’s a group that can turn it up to Northern Soul dancefloor-filling proportions on a track like “A Sure Thing” as easily as it can temper it down to a soulful simmer as on “Particular.” The album is also noteworthy for it features a guest appearance by Van Morrison (on the jump blues track “Ain’t That a Trip”) who was one of Hunter’s earliest supporters appearing on his first solo album way back in 1996. Says Hunter of Morrison’s participation, “I tried to get Van to sing one of my songs 30 years ago, but I hadn’t really written anything he fancied at the time. But we were having a chin wag backstage at a gig where we were opening, and I asked him if he wanted to sing something on our next record and he said yes, so I sent him the track. Hearing him actually singing words I wrote gave me a real kick. It’s brilliant.” It’s just one of many highlights on an album overflowing with them and yet another fine addition to the James Hunter Six catalogue. Visit www.jameshuntermusic.com and sample tracks from Off the Fence at https://jameshuntersix.bandcamp.com/album/off-the-fence.