Just like the central character in their latest single, “The Fastest Outlaw,” Jed Potts & The Hillman Hunters are on the run of their lives. Hot on the heels of their show stopping performance at the Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival, the Edinburgh blues maestros affirm their growing reputation with another self-penned classic. After 12 years of performing mainly authentic 1950s American and British covers, the band has hit a rich vein of form with this new and exciting original material.
The listener’s attention is grabbed instantly as the funk kicks in with the deepest of grooves followed by Potts’ distinctive raw and primal vocals. If guitar pyrotechnics featured in the Olympic Games, Jed would be a gold medalist as he delivers a huge solo with control and authority. In trademark style, bass player Charlie Wild and drummer Jonny Christie take the tempo and volume down, adding light and shade to the mix.
The background harmonies to the chorus of ‘aahs’ and other exclamations enhance its appeal as an atmospheric wild-west story of lawlessness with a pertinent finale: I am from, I am from nowhere/ And I’m going back home.
Jed Potts explains:
This is possibly the oldest of all of the new singles compositionally. I’ve had the basic elements and lyrics for a long, long time and we’ve messed around with it live over the years in various different keys and tunings etc. before finally getting this arrangement nailed down.
Stylistically this possibly references a slightly later period of electric blues to what we’ve become known for but, as you can hear, it’s a way of playing that is really comfortable for us. The little twangy guitar riff that bookends the tune was a last-minute addition that I stumbled upon, but I’m so glad I did as it really ties everything together nicely.
It might have taken over a decade for the epithet ‘overnight sensation’ to be applied to this power trio but Jed and the boys are at last in the ascendancy and thoroughly deserve the plaudits coming their way.
“The Fastest Outlaw” was recorded and mixed by Graeme Young at Chamber Studio, Edinburgh, mastered by Reuben Taylor; with artwork by Craig Macfadyen aka Lentil.
The song will be available for download from Bandcamp on August 6th, and available for streaming on all major platforms on August 13th.
Lyrics:
I am, I am an outlaw
And I run from town to town
Make my reputation as the fastest gun around
I don’t have, I don’t have nothing
Except my six-gun and my speed
It’s been enough to keep the devil from catching up to me
I don’t sleep in no fancy hotel
No, I don’t rest in no feather bed
I lay myself on the cold, hard ground and sleep like the dead
I have rode across the badlands
By the moon and by the sun
I ask for no forgiveness for the things I have done
I am, I am an outlaw
And I just rode into town
Send out the sheriff and the deputy so I can cut them down
I am from, I am from nowhere
And I’m going back home
Until then speak the legend, leave the truth alone
Jed Potts
