Talkin' Heavy [CD]

In the last two years, I have seen D.K. Harrell perform ten explosive shows. The first was in 2023, when he played for the Sponsors' Dinner at the Lucerne Blues Festival. The crowd of 600 was there for a gourmet three-course meal. No one in the venue had ever heard of a 24-year-old musician named D.K. Harrell.

After he delivered a stone-cold stunner of a show, the entire room spontaneously erupted in a standing ovation. The same huge bursts of applause happened two nights later when he played the festival. Those two performances were among the most overwhelming that I've ever seen.

In those concerts, I saw his showmanship, warmth, infectious joy, intensity and talent, but most importantly, I saw his ability to connect with his audience. The most recent four appearances were on the 2025 Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise, and D.K. won the same ecstatic fan response before, during, and after those shows.

I've seen D.K. run a jam with musicians more than twice his age. I've seen him speak confidently to European audiences in their own languages, walk into the crowd and hold a fan's hand while singing a tearful ballad, do the splits during a fiery guitar solo, and then meet and greet until there are no hands left to shake or selfies to take.

On the heels of his critically acclaimed 2023 debut, The Right Man, which won him the Blues Music Award for Best Emerging Artist, D.K. Harrell is out to prove with his debut Alligator recording that there is so much more to his talent and charisma. Like any serious artist, he is poised to take his creativity to new levels with his fearless approach to singing, writing, and playing.

At 27 years old, D.K. comes to the stage as a fully developed, mature blues artist, proficient in songwriting--he's written or co-written all but one of the 23 songs on both records--and possesses a personal vocal style with its roots in the Black church choirs where he sang as a child. Most impressive about Harrell's voice is that he can convey deep emotions--sadness, joy, frustration, and celebration--often in the same song.

Then there is his expressive command of guitar, which first came from watching videos of his spiritual blues mentor, B.B. King. "I spent seven years studying every B.B. concert from 1968 to 2013. It wasn't just coppin' licks. I wanted to find his tone."

The red Gibson 355 looks and sounds familiar, but D.K. is no B.B. imitator. He's a modern revelation who rejuvenates all the Kings, Blands, Miltons, and other blues royalty for his 21st century audience. Case in point: B.B. sang "Rock Me Baby." Here, D.K. updates the idea, singing, "Vibe with me, till the walls begin to melt." Same idea, but in language for his generation's ears.

D.K. came to appreciate blues' power as a teen, when he was being bullied in his Ruston, Louisiana high school for his gentle giant size. His healing in those difficult times came through writing songs in his tattered notebook. "During that period in my life, the blues was very, very needed. When I was bullied, no one would be my friend. I took refuge in music. I took peace in music. I took understanding in music."

The power of his blues, evident in these twelve songs, was sharpened by his natural ability to see and feel universal truths. "This album tells many stories and lessons," says D.K.. "Learning from mistakes, learning from being in and out of love, and understanding life as much as possible, while also having a little fun."

All that is evident throughout this recording, which is as unpredictable as his live shows. Just when you think you might have D.K. figured out, he sharp turns into a Memphis soul ballad, wails through a song with vintage guitar tones inspired by a 1950s blues legend, or pushes a slower song into a "get up and dance" groove.

With his pure blues musical approach wrapped around his contemporary lyrical images, D.K. Harrell has earned his reputation as a young giant of the blues. Talkin' Heavy is a strong contender for the 2025 Contemporary Blues Album of the Year.

—Art Tipaldi, Editor and co-founder of Blues Music Magazine