20 Watt Tombstone – ‘The Chosen Few’

Stoner/Fuzz

Independent Release

Release Date – October 20^th 2023

It’s a welcome return to Wisconsin 20-watt Tombstone. Five years ago, I reviewed their EP ‘Death Blues Vs The Dirty Spliff’ which was a fine chunk of stoner/blues now we’ve got some more to play with thanks to the duo of Tom Jordan (Guitar/Vocals) and Mitch Ostrowski (Drums/Vocals).

‘Prophet Man’ oozes out of the gate with a huge down-tuned call and response before the simple ‘Chosen Few’ gets your head nodding. We get some dirty blues with ‘The Bomb That Saved The Day’ which has Jordan using the slide to great effect and he continues on the huge throbbing ‘Black Top Sorrow’. We get a couple of covers which were released last year as the ‘Year Of The Jackalope’ EP. First, it’s a mighty version of country star Chris Stapleton’s ‘Midnight Train To Memphis’ then ZZ Top’s ‘Just Got Paid’ which just grooves along like the original only with a shed load of fuzz and if you don’t like this song then you don’t like music! ‘Magnolia’ brings back the groove for the final cut but let me tell you will hit play again because this stuff is just so addictive.

20 Watt Tombstone are not reinventing the wheel here but what they do and how they do it is superb. It’s stripped back and as basic as you can get with the volume turned up causing a really dirty sound and a voice that’s been abused by cheap cigarettes and even cheaper whiskey, sometimes that’s all you need. Nothing complicated or fancy, just pick on a song and let the groove take you.

Track List –

1 – Prophet Man

2 – Chosen Few

3 – The Bomb That Saved The Day

4 – Black Top Sorrow

5 – Midnight Train To Memphis

6 – Just Got Paid

7 – Magnolia

Smudge