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CD / LP (yellow vinyl ltd. to 500) Every Damn Time peaked at #128 on CMJ tour dates here

Seems duos are the new four pieces, and there's one from Tennessee that's smeared with the blues-soaked dirty mud that area is renowned for. Their attack of drums and keyboards is a mean, fucked up, gospel punky hybrid and rocks with ragged, soulful passion. - Rock Sound -------------------------

NME review - October 07

This unique blues-punk duo from the birthplace of rock 'n' roll have made a debut album in the 21st that sounds as if they never set foot in a modern studio. Every Damn Time is not just raw in sound and style; it sounds like it was recorded in some stinky, hot wood shed in the middle of the swamp, in analog. Black Diamond Heavies are John Wesley Myers (bass keys, organ, voice) and Van Campbell (drums, vocals). A blues coupling with no guitar -- who need no guitar -- to convey the melancholy, the soul, and the muddy depths of emotion with which they are miraculously able to pull out of just a pair of voices, a beat and a smokey melody. It's bluesy, it's raunchy, it sounds as if it was improvised and recorded in one take, which it sort of was -- the whole album is the result of two live sessions, recorded straight to analog, with very few overdubs. It's the kind of album, and the kind of band, that keeps me excited about new music. - Jen Cray / Ink19 ------------------------- Muddy Waters never could've predicted what today's blues would sound like when he left us in 1983, but The Black Diamond Heavies do the tradition right, with a painfully coarse oeuvre of lyrical introspection, and an ass-kickin' sound that'll whip everyone into submission, breaking down mental barriers and pushing us towards sublime clarity, where the sordid meets the divine. Perhaps it's a taste of the spiritual, when Myers is onstage with drummer Van Campbell. Thank the Lord that the devil got hold of Myers, who is the son of a Baptist preacher. He first proved his mettle on the most angelic of gospel tunes before gleaning inspiration from the darker arts. - Kevin Crowe / Metro Pulse ------------------------- There's a shivering power in good gutter-punk demos, old blues LPs and bedroom indie-rock four-track releases, fingers squealing on strings, low-end tones sizzling and breaking and creaking crags in voices left provocatively naked. Black Diamond Heavies' new Every Damn Time doesn't sound coiffed like a well-funded radio-rock album does, but it sounds like the truth - the aural equivalent of the difference between Loveless Cafe's biscuits and Pillsbury's, where you're sure what you're consuming got processed by real hands, just as you're consuming it. - Nicole Keiper / The Tennessean -------------------------

Hotter than Dracula in an Arizona goth club with broken air conditioning, the tandem of organist and crooner John Wesley Myers and crazy-ass drummer Van Campbell spew fire- and brimstone-laced blues and blues rock that oozes soul. More specifically, it sounds like Tom Waits, Ray Charles, and John Lee Hooker taking hard swigs from a jug of moonshine in the middle of a Baptist church. So break out the whiskey and sunglasses, kids, and enjoy the show. - Battle Of the Midwestern Housewives -------------------------

Gospel-blues-punk preacher-isers John Wesley Myers and Van Campbell baptise you in beatific raptures of Hammond and drums, literally stripping the sound down to its scantily-clad soul. Almost too perfectly Myers is the literal son of a (Baptist) preacher man, whereas Campbell descends from a Bourbon-distilling family. As it is, you can absolutely bloody tell too, such is the whiskey-swilling testifying herein. Voodoo shuffles its sinicious way through Fever In My Blood, swigging, swaggering and setting the VU meters swinging right through the red like a shamans trance-eyes for the entire ceremony till the closing corpse-raising Guess You Gone And Fucked It All Up broadsides you with it's mutant Tina Turner chicken-dancing on a Motown mamba mantra. Funky cactus-caressed wagon-train blues like Leave It In The Road and Poor Brown Sugar and 'Hip Shake' update Might Be Right aren't so much like Canned Heat as they heat yer can, violate viscera and turn your pupils to pulp direct from the pulpit. Best though are the wee wee hour sojourns through nocturnal damnation of All To Hell and Stitched In Sin, draped in ditch-dirt and paying the tab at the Devils Inn with small change from the confession box, while swabbing woulds with sandpaper. - Stu Gibson / Sleazegrinder -------------------------

With no guitar in sight, John Wesley Myers' tweaked-out keyboards provide the color as Van Campbell pounds away on the drums. The Heavies made its name here at the old Frederick's Music Lounge with their high-energy, raunchy shows (...) "The sound you hear on our record and live is a blending of old school blues and soul with high-energy punk and heavy Led Zeppelin-type stuff," said Campbell. - interview with STL Today -------------------------

As Myers' passionate voice hits deep lows and his hands vibrate across the piano, Campbell picks up the pace with booming blues beats. Hailing from Tennessee, the band uses its lyrics to address classic Southern topics such as religion, evil, drinkin' - and the evils of drinkin'. Raise a glass to the Heavies, whose show brings both starlight and moonshine. - Jaime Lees / River Front Times -------------------------

Armed with organ, drums, a voice that lies somewhere between Lemmy and Tom Waits, and a shitload of energy, "Every Damn Time" delivers some of roughest soul/blues punk I've ever heard. "White Bitch" is one the best anti-cocaine songs ever made. - Lowcut ------------------------- Black Diamond Heavies are an act that play rock as it is supposed to be played; heavy, grungy, and dirty. This is the music of bars and juke joints, instead of 40,000 seat arenas. - Neufutur -------------------------

From the distorted "whoo!" that opens the song "Guess You Gonna," it's clear that the Heavies like to keep things as raw and ground-up as dirt - drums with a trashcan rattle that sound huge and far away (like they were recorded in a wide-open space down the street) and overdriven Fender Rhodes. That's all there is to it, but then again, there's so much more. For one, the absence of guitar actually enhances the Heavies' sound and gives it freshness and guts. When keyboard player/vocalist Reverent John Wesley Myers cranks the distortion, the music kicks, spits, and growls like an angry mule. But when he holds back and dips into some vintage soul, the Heavies achieve a space and mournfulness that most garage bands could only dream of. For all the repetition that's endemic to rock 'n' roll, the Black Diamond Heavies have the drive and spark to reawaken faith in even the most jaded listener. - Saby Reyes-Kulkarni / Phoenix New Times -------------------------

Another lo-fi blues rocker that had me checking to see if my speaker cones were damaged. They're fine, but BDH's John Myers' voice is the thing that's damaged. He sings with a voodoo growl not unlike Tom Waits and Dr John. The Rhodes organ and the jazz drumming of Van Campbell separate BDH from the masses of garage punk bands. In this case, they're a punk blues band, and this album has the feel of a revival. They recorded it live in studio over two days and all the blemishes and imperfections are captured like flies in amber, forever. This sound is darker and more Satan's on my tail than their contemporaries the Black Keys. Both are duos playing a version of traditional southern roots music, but BDH keep close to the bone. This sound is some insane satan blues. - Culture Bunker -------------------------

The Black Diamond Heavies will be legendary in years to come! Consisting of only a drummer and a singer who plays a Hammond organ, the group plays magnificently soulful blues. "Every Damn Time" by The Black Diamond Heavies is basically a live-in-the-studio album recorded in 2 days. Hailing from TN, the 2 musicians have created a classic masterpiece. "White Bitch" is a bluesy/rock swansong to a love affair with cocaine. The slow, romantic hearbreaking tenderness of "All To Hell" and "Stitched In Sin" will make listeners fall in love. Other standout cuts include "Fever In My Blood", "Leave It In The Road", "Signs", and "Might Be Right". Every single song on this album is incredible!!! You will love this album every damn time you play it! "Every Damn Time" by The Black Diamond Heavies is an absolute classic! - Todd E. Jones / The Tripwire -------------------------

Black Diamond Heavies live in London - Spitz Festival 07 We miss the start because the bar upstairs is five deep and we are forced into the market downstairs for an emergency Weisbeer. When we return we are dragged through the doors and towards the stage by a wave of warm keyboard fuelled pleasure. This is huge, anthemic resonance is being orchestrated by John Wesley Myres on key's and Van Campbell on drums. Apparently the duo used to be a trio before their guitarist departed but, as with so many of today's finer blues rock outfits, the stripped down, bare boned riot that remains is more than capable of delivering the goods. Comparisons with Tom Waits (vocals), The Stooges (sweat soaked bare backed writhing) and RL Burnside would be easy but these guy's offer so much more. The diversity of their set is incredible and sticks two fingers up at the marketing man's desire for monotony. Melancholic, tumbling anthem 'All to Hell' gives way to free flowing jazzy stomps in the form of 'Let Me Coco' and the best is yet to come. What the Heavies really do best is rock'n'roll. And I mean real old fashioned, vintage, nail you to the wall rock and roll. Myres is incredible on key's - pounding out a thumping rampaging bassline with his left hand while bending and whaling out sludge rock brilliance with his right. 'Poor Brown Sugar' is another standout track. For the finale, Biram and the Heavies (who toured together for a long time) conduct an extended jam of Muddy Waters covers which unite the two in perfect unison. An encore is inevitable and 'Got My Mojo Working' is the icing on the cake. - Lewis Hodgkinson / Blues in London -------------------------

Thundering along like an 18-wheeler through some backwoods town, 'Every Damn Time' is a heavy record. And their slower numbers are equally impressive, as 'Stitched in Sin' makes Barry White sound like Cliff Richard. On 'All To Hell', one can almost feel the weight of the world crushing down the band into their instruments and wringing the plaintive, beautiful misery out of them. This is a worthy addition to the blues rock cannon and a healthy slap in the face for anyone who thinks blues is tired and old. - RegnYouth -------------------------

Unlike the more traditional blues duos of guitarists and drummers (or Mirambists and drummers -- damn you Jack White), the dirty delta blues of The Black Diamond Heavies are delivered with keys and drums. Although the no-frills, analog production style of Every Damn Time gives me the warm and fuzzies, there's a dark and sinister side to their music, supplied primarily by the wicked howl of John Wesley Myers, a vocalist who sounds as if he lives on a steady diet of thumb tacks and shards of broken glass. Every Damn Time plays like a road trip through the bar rooms and back alleys of the American South, albeit one leaving a good deal of carnage behind. Tales range from the rabid ("Fever In My Blood"), and the raging ("White Bitch") to the busted up ("Guess You Gone and Fucked It All Up") and broken hearted ("Leave It In The Road"), and the Black Diamond Heavies deliver on every damn one of them. - I Rock Cleveland -------------------------

Terrorizer - UK

If you dig the Black Keys, Jon Spencer, Mofro, MC5, Tom Waits and Charles Bukowski...well then you'll probably enjoy these Low- Fi dirty blues garage rockers. The Fender Rhodes is phenomenal here. A nice change to the ears. Dejected lyrics like "Fuck that car, Fuck them shoes...I'll leave em in the god damn street". I'll call them dirtbag gasoline blues rockers from the south. The underdog I would say. But if they do get any substantial adulation from their contemporaries in the near future, is will be very deserving at the least. Don't miss this. Long live all underdogs of music - Wino / Eletric Mud ------------------------- Call me a convert. Call me a sinner. Call me what you will. I have witnessed the devil's music of the Black Diamond Heavies and am ready to testify. (...) Most of the set list came from the Heavies' latest release, Every Damn Time. Notable was the performance of "Fever in My Blood," during which Campbell and Myers launched into a vein-pumping, cymbal-crashing improvised freakout -- a jam apparently so powerful that it caused one whiskey-soaked patron to stumble out of control, resulting in broken glass and a capsized speaker. - Tristan Wheelock / Tampa-Creative Loafing ------------------------- It's oddly apropos that a band like the Black Diamond Heavies conducts a phone interview from a strip bar somewhere in Birmingham, Ala. It's not that the Heavies - a rough-and-tumble mix of punk, blues, rock and soul - regularly hold court in such establishments. In fact, the band - which has played Brackins Blues Bar in downtown Maryville a few times - should probably be hitting the road, where they seem to thrive. After all, there's a show in Atlanta on this particular evening and miles to go before they play. - Read the Heavies interview with The Daily Times ------------------------- A punk blues duo, with John Wesley Myers manning the Fender Rhodes organ, and Van Campbell beating the hell out of the skins. The record itself is a mighty piece of workrecorded live to tape, the raw, huge sound of this record makes you feel like you're listening to a tape of one of their awesome live gigs. - Live Blues World -------------------------

The main way in which Black Diamond Heavies set themselves apart from the pack - other than the whole no-guitars thing, anyway - is with their slow numbers, which somehow manage to be even better than the boogie stuff while still remaining every bit as raw. "All to Hell," a slow-burning soul ballad just over eight minutes in length, is one of the best heartbreak songs I've heard in some time, right down to the cathartic gospel organ build-up. And their cover of the aforementioned Lee County Killers' Delta blues dead-ringer "Stitched in Sin" may even surpass the original, so suited is it to Myers' Waitsian croak and churchy electric piano groove. In the end, while the prospect of more Heavies in general is enough to set my mouth a-waterin', I for one wouldn't mind hearing more of the pretty songs next time around; after all, in a world where any skinny kid from the suburbs can learn a few slide licks and think he's Muddy Waters, we can never have enough bands who'll put a shake in our hips and a tear in our beers, all in one glorious half hour. - Zach Hoskins / Mainline Magazine -------------------------

The Black Diamond Heavies attack with a Waits-ian growl over some dirty low-fi punk blues. The duo is packing nothing more than a drum kit and an organ, but they make quite the racket with minimal equipment. This is the sound of the son of Kentucky bourbon distillers in a scrap with the son of a Texas preacher. Fans of the good Mr. Waits, the Black Keys, R.L. Burnside, Turpentine Brothers or the Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir will certainly dig this. - Punknews -------------------------

The best description of the Heavies' sound comes from vocalist/organ genius John Wesley Myers himself who describes their reworking of the much-maligned genre as 'punk ass blues'. The son of a Baptist preacher, John Wesley was smart enough to play gospel as a child and wise enough to realize as a man that the devil has all the best tunes! The Heavies have spent the last two years on the road, living in vans and sleeping on floors and their songs are fuelled with tales of drunken regret and morning after the night before melancholy. Featuring some of the best of songs off their debut album 'Every Damn Time': 'Fever in my blood', 'All to Hell' and 'Might be Right'; the Heavies also played some excellent covers of songs that had inspired and shaped their own unique take on the blues including Tom Waits, T-Model Ford, Nina Simone and Ray Charles truly heartbreaking 'Hard Times'. They walk the walk and talk the talk. Are Black Diamond Heavies the Godfathers of Punk ass blues? Hell yes. The converted Chris Bartle. - The Crack magazine (UK) -------------------------

This duo of self-described "vagrants/citizens of the world" makes gruff, scratchy, lo-fi blues and soul music like there was nothing else they ever wanted to do. It ain't pretty, but it's got balls. Like Hillstomp, they make a big sound for two people, but it's dark and electrified and loud. While his left hand covers the bass parts on a bass keyboard, singer John Wesley Myers pounds a distorted sound out of his Fender Rhodes electric piano with his right, which provides the hoarseness that hard music normally gets from guitars. On vocals he sounds as much like Howlin' Wolf as any white man I've ever heard, particularly on "Might Be Right" and the frenzied opener "Fever In My Blood." - Jon Sobel / Blogcritics -------------------------

With a sound that's blues-rooted but steeped in Stooges sludge, the Heavies' cranky, cranked-up sets burn black as tire fires. Stylistically, BDH is often lumped in with R.L. Burnside and Tom Waits. That's a fine place to start, but the comparison misses the band's joy and boogie. Instead, think Exile on Main Street recorded in Howlin' Wolf's casket. Nothing smooth or clean here. Just eight-bar skronk in bad need of a tetanus shot. - Alan Scherstuhl / The Pitch ------------------------- There's nothing remotely fancy about the gutbucket style of Black Diamond Heavies, a punk-blues duo from Chattanooga, Tenn. Every Damn Time sounds a bit like what the Black Keys might be if that band's roots-oriented approach centered around keyboard instead of guitar. There's dirty distortion, a steady, no-frills backbeat and the band's biggest asset, the menacing, otherworldly growling of singers John Wesley Myers and Van Campbell. - Jim Abbott / Orlando Sentinel -------------------------

There is a more modern, rock and roll or even punk streak to this album. It sure is heavy too, thundering along like an 18-wheeler through some backwoods town. Their slower numbers are equally impressive. 'Stitched in Sin' makes Barry White sound like Cliff Richard. And on 'All To Hell' you can almost feel the weight of the world crushing down the band into their instruments and wringing the plaintive, beautiful misery out of them. This is a worthy addition to the blues cannon and a healthy slap in the face for anyone who thinks blues is tired and old. - Daniel Cressey / Pennyblack Music -------------------------

The Black Diamond Heavies are a duo from Tennessee consisting of John Wesley Myers on bass keys, Fender Rhodes organ, and vocal, and Van Cambell on drums and vocals. That's right, no guitars. The Fender Rhodes electric piano takes the place of the guitar in this punk-ass garage blues outfit. - Nine Bullets -------------------------

With a bottom end bigger than Homer Simpson's arse and not a guitar to be heard it's an album that's heavily reliant on Myers' keyboards for its colour. The good news is that we're not let down and he's a tremendous player. "Every Damn Time" is every bit as soulful as Sunday brunch in Harlem with the same attendant edge of risk if you wander the wrong way down a side-street. Fans of the Black Keys or the Soledad Brothers should cock an ear - with the proviso that "Every Damn Time" is less refined. Not a bad thing, that. - The Barman / I94 Bar -------------------------

Review on the Gonzai site (France) -------------------------

Review of 'Every Damn Time' in the OX (Germany) -------------------------

Review on Goddeau.com (Netherlands) -------------------------

Review on The Fake site (Switzerland) -------------------------

Review on Una Piel De Astracan (Spain) -------------------------

Black Diamond Heavies combine the best New Blues traditions of artists like Kenny Brown and Elam McKnight with Jimbo Mathus' 'shine fired bottom-of-the-hill country blues and the Black Keys aural sonic senses and backroom basement know-how. - Homstead.com -------------------------

when the BLACK DIAMOND HEAVIES shut their Southern eyes and concentrate they become deep old souls who craft introspective beefy tracks with warm keys, paused drumming and a gruffy Mc gruffy vocal approach that is surely to cause some blisters in your eardrums. The pair gets cozy early on, "All to Hell" a sad tune about shit sucking, but when it inspires stuff as good as this it kinda makes us wonder about heartbreak and its case for lyrical inspiration. "Let Me Coco" is all cool jazz, with the Hammond B3 organ reigning supreme along some free flowing drum beats giving way to the blues rock of "Poor Brown Sugar". (...) It's romantic and perfectly crafted for those youngsters born with a vintage soul and why not for people in their forties, fifties, sixties and seventies (for those who haven't experienced hearing loss) who somewhere along the way lost much hope in modern music. - Deaf Sparrow -------------------------

They recorded live to tape, capturing unrehearsed musical moments, a move that helps accurately mirror their punk-soul, inverted tent revival blues jams. In an era when most of the blues you hear sounds like it came from a can, on this record the BD Heavies pour their 180-proof blues straight from the bottle, then set it on fire. (...) There are enough good lines, good songs and good musical moments on the album to keep its limited sonic scope from feeling redundant, but the real keeper might be "White Bitch," an anti-drug song you'd never hear used on any of those government-approved ads. Meyers gets increasingly pissed off at the drug that makes "a mess" out of him but keeps calling him back, until he gets to the chorus, screaming "fuck cocaine" with equal amounts of righteous fury and desperate lust. The chorus kills, but it's not the most cathartic moment. That's the solo, in which Meyers unveils one of the best atonal, psychedelic organ performances recorded since the '60s. - Andy Davis / Nashville Rage -------------------------

While on paper they sound like yet another post-White Stripes blues duo, on record the Black Diamond Heavies offer an impressive range of musical material. Whiskey-soaked ballads give way to rollicking, floor-stomping tunes with ease. Sounding occasionally like Tom Waits on a mean bender, vocalist John Wesley Myers's singing offers a distinctive flavour to the group's songs. Rather than focus on a standard guitar and drums duo format, Black Diamond Heavies make keyboards the central instrument with both Fender Rhodes electric piano and Hammond B3 organ figuring prominently in their songs. The result is a textured and soulful sound that helps makes Every Damn Time an impressive album from this Tennessee duo. - Exclaim -------------------------

This is grungy cellar blues, best heard with a beer in one hand and a beer in the other hand, as well. - EPinions -------------------------

Nashville blues/rock duo Black Diamond Heavies -- organist/singer John Wesley Myers and drummer/singer Van Campbell -- have made a messy splash this season with a howling sound and a "demonically-possessed," butt-shakin' trash-rock style. - Charleston City Paper -------------------------

Listening to Black Diamond Heavies' debut, "Every Damn Time" sounds a bad night at one of those hole-in-the wall dives with a sound man who's worked at about a thousand too many punk rock shows and keeps turning the sound up until the speakers rattle like a blow-out on your front tire going 80 down I-75 until your ear lobes fold themselves over on their own to muffle the feedback but you can still feel the bass drum thumping against your chest until it alters your heart beat and you either run from the bar with your ears bleeding - or you dance. "Yeah, that's about what we were going for," said frontman John Wesley Myers. - Heavies' interview with the Oxford Press -------------------------

Arguably one of the hardest working acts on the planet, Tennessee's Black Diamond Heavies have spent the last two years playing soulful, bluesy rawk to packed roadhouses at home and overseas. Every Damn Time is a healthy slice of these notorious live shows: sweaty, raucous and highly combustible. And by gum, the Heavies know how to bring it, especially on opening track "Fever In My Blood" and the pounding finale "Guess You Gone And Fucked It All Up," but they also know how to conjure up the Soul and give them old folks some slow dancing time. "All To Hell" is Sam Cooke on the wrong side of the Mason-Dixon, while "Stitched in Sin" will have you testifying like a soused Southern belle. Hard to believe this album was recorded without any guitars, but listening to these guys work the keys and kit, you won't even miss them. Highly recommended. - Adam Simpkins / the Nerve -------------------------

If you like the Turpentine Brothers, then Black Diamond Heavies will be your cup of tea, or shot of whiskey. Powered by drums, organ, and a hunger in their soul, Black Diamond Heavies deliver. - Slave to Shuffle -------------------------

A gravel-throated, Howlin' Wolf-meets-the Black Keys, keyboards 'n' drums duo from the hills of Tennessee. - Times Union -------------------------

John Wesley Meyers' pounding keys and thick, raspy vocals sound like Tom Waits after sucking down a Molotov cocktail, and the tunes are an irreverent mash of gospel, blues and punk rock that creep into your belly. Holding it all together is Van Campbell's sonorous, almost melodic, drumming. Close your eyes while listening to the new record, and you're right there on the road with this constantly touring band, where each day culminates in a whiskey-sweating, soul-damning, arms-in-the-air carnival. - Eric Williams / Nashville Scene -------------------------

The Black Diamond Heavies are a blues rock duo, but not in the traditional sense -- they craft their psychedelic blues rock explosions with keys and drums. - I Rock Cleveland -------------------------

The album has a nice mix of shake-your-hips blues boogie and the nice soulful blues ballads. Fever In My Blood, Leave It In The Road and Pour Brown Sugar are examples of the former. All feature tremendous intros by Campbell that show he's not just along for the ride. All to Hell and Stiched In Sin fall into the latter category as Myers shows his soulful, lovelorn self. His organ work shines on All To Hell and combined with the guest horns, it almost reminds me of an Otis Redding song (if Otis' voice was put through a blender). - Hearya -------------------------

Punk blues is alive and well and thank goodness for that, I was getting worried I'd never again get to hear music that sounded like the members had drowned themselves in vats of whiskey before arriving at the recording studio shirtless, pantless and probably witless. This sounds exactly like that, albeit with more than a liberal smattering of early Captain Beefheart (think 'Safe as Milk' with some of the grit of 'Trout Mask Replica') and it's darned good fun to listen to. We're all no doubt sick of punk rock by now after having it thrust down our throats by American teenage bands who decide one day that they hate their parents. This is the real thing, it's low down and dirty, it's sleazy and what's more they've got an electric piano. As usual with music this utterly wrong, it's essential to buy it on vinyl, and since this is white vinyl too I think there's no more convincing you should need. Wheee dawgie. - Boomkat UK -------------------------

Blues sounds infused with punk energy. songs like Might Be Right and Leave it in the Road make you wanna shake some ass while All to Hell and Stitched in Sin are dipped in heart ache and tenderness. this is a kick ass album that will remind you how fuckin killer real blues can be! kudos guys! - Ectomag -------------------------

With an earthy blues-soul-jazz-punk credo feeding every inch of the rhythm and shake, the band lurches between foot-tappin' freedom on "Fever in My Blood" that resembles the sweaty and spine-tingling moments of Memphis garage'n'roll purists the Oblivians. Yet, the Heavies' palate is not one dimensional or stuck on the ratty and raunchy gutter tunesmith treadmill, for the old-fashioned preacher man soul delivery of "All to Hell," with its smoke-encrusted, red shag carpet ambience could be a Stax cut from the 1960s. The horns make it that much more authentic and pregnant with slow swaying redemption. In turn, the big drum bombast of "Leave it on the Road" pipes past the Tom Waits-esque exorcism of the devil, who had been chasing the narrator's ass. Not by surprise, there's a gritty Fat Possum records chill and distortion to the amblings of "Poor Brown Sugar," which makes it a reptilian cousin to the Stones song by the similar title. Meanwhile, angels, pill-poppers, and a buttoned-down narrator sauntering under the alias Jesse James show up for the barroom crawl of "Stitched in Sin," while the thrust and torment of cocaine gets unraveled and stabbed at on "White Bitch." She may kill friends, steal wills, and keep the singer on the floor, but he's got to wrestle with her, like a crazed snarling dog, damnit, less he becomes a helpless victim of that serpent eye she keeps trained on him, keeping his upside-down world baited, barbed-wired, and wrecked. The song is punchy and profound due to this thermal and toxic emotional core. "Guess You Gone and Fucked It Up" wraps up the disc, and it is a burning rendition of the Paul "Wine" Jones song, who is a former Delta cotton gin worker and welder described as having "a dexterous manner of subsuming rhythm and lead functions in to a guitar style with the momentum and unpredictability of a runaway steamroller." Luckily, Black Diamond heavies do right by him, preserving that unbridled, steam engine stoked, catapulting sound right into the dead silence of the end. If you think sound verite, lo-fi, or a hands-off technology is the road map to an unembellished sonic freedom, then this is your pork skin and chitlin plate of goodies. - Left Of The Dial -------------------------

It,s nice to see the Black Diamond Heavies finally get some much deserved attention. Folks in Chattanooga have known about this duo for quite some time. Their unique brand of music, a mixture of blues, soul , rock n, roll and punk played on a Fender Rhodes and set of drums, have been a staple of the local scene for a while. It's nice to see their congregation growing and their gospel being spread both far and wide. So, brothers and sisters, as the good book says "seek and ye shall find". - Richard Oliver / Ear Candy -------------------------

If you like raw, soulful music, Black Diamond Heavies are just what the doctor ordered. This two-man band--made up of John Wesley on keys, guitar and vocals and Van Campbell on drums and vocals--sounds like Tom Waits, Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker. - Orlando Citybeat -------------------------

John Wesley Myers' vocal range is pretty impressive. He can somehow keep up on the hard hitting numbers, delivering Tom Waits, gravely vocals while wailing on the keys (Leave it on the Road), or slow it down for gospel-esque, Ray Charles ballads (the soulful All to Hell is an excellent example). Nestled amongst the ramblings of saints and sinner, Myers put his mark on every song, and drummer Van Campbell makes sure he stays on the right path (whether that's the path of righteousness or the road to ruin is yet to be determined and differs from song to song). He manages to use his Fender Rhodes to express more pure emotion. With grainy funk chops (Signs), frantic pace (White Bitch) or smooth organ tones (like the huge solo on All to Hell or the testimonial nature of Stitched in Sin), his keys set the mood for the message. - Herohill -------------------------

Of all the latest roots-punk singers that fall into the Captain Beefheart cookie-monster blues shtick, Myers is "one of the good ones." There's soul up in there. Sure, if you reflexively hate the crazy cool modern phenomenon of white boys playing a kind of reverse race card - something that falls between old-negro-worship and self-parody - why then, you'll hate this too. But then, y'all probably hate punk rock, THE GORIES and THE OBLIVIANS. Fuck y'all. - Toestubber -------------------------

"Fever in My Blood," is a suitable title for the opening song since the drummer seems to have fire coursing through his veins and if the boost in his banging is any clue "All To Hell," is a more subdued track with Hammond Organ work from Matt Rowlands. The scratchy vocals resonate stinging lyrics like, "Didn't I give you my heart? Didn't I give you my gold? Give you my mind, baby, didn't I give you my soul? Well, I want it all back. I want out of this hole. Want some peace of mind baby, so please send my soul." "Leave It in the Road," brings back the blaring drums, but this time listeners could think the drummer is just pounding incoherently because of the agitated pace. "Let Me Coco," harkens back more Hammond Organ play from Rowlands. The richness of the instrument and the precise notes give the track a Gospel flow that listeners might hear at their next church function. - Sari N. Kent / Celebrity Cafe -------------------------

Being a fan of unrefined punk rock, I was won over by "Every Damn Time" the first listen. The album begins with "Fever in my Blood", a song that gets the album started on a good note with furious drumming and uninhibited yelping vocals before introducing the bass keys and classic Fender Rhodes electric piano, that's right no guitars on the entire recording. The album changes pace with "All to Hell" which is slowed down and has a soulful touch reminiscent of Ray Charles and Sam Cooke. Other album highlights include the upbeat "Poor Brown Sugar" with its 12 bar blues influence and album closer "Guess You Gone and Fucked it all Up" which when played loud is sure to get any party started. Fans of classic garage rock including the Mummies, the Sonics, and Booker T and the MGs take notice of this one. - Paul Borchert / Mote MGZN -------------------------

Black Diamond Heavies are the musical embodiment of inescapable spiritual torment rising from the swamps, boonies, and cotton fields of the Deep South. Vocalist/organist John Wesley Myers grunts and growls like an old, gnarled sharecropper enmeshed in heartache and drunk on turpentine. His abundantly talented fingers streak across the keys of the organ and bass keyboard as if he were once a dedicated holy-roller revivalist who sold his soul to the devil for a bottle of bourbon and a chance at infamy. Drummer Van Campbell is a demonically possessed powerhouse beat-keeper as he transforms an ominous roll of thunder into rhythmic freight train fury. Every Damn Time is a steaming hot heap of Blues, Garage, and Gospel distilled in a vat of Mississippi River mud sludge and draped in a shroud of cypress moss. Welcome to the dark side of salvation. - Rotgut Roger's / Under The Volcano -------------------------

With just Myers on keyboards and vocals and Van Campbell behind the drums, the Black Diamond Heavies generate a mighty wall of sound and the duo cuts a hard, bluesy groove on songs like "Fever in My Blood" and "Leave It in the Road." Myers' electric piano work is especially impressive on "Poor Brown Sugar" and "Signs," and the anti-cocaine salvo "White Bitch" is a more effective anti-drug message than the "Just Say No" crowd has ever offered. Someone get John Wesley Myers a vocal coach and some less obvious influences and the Black Diamond Heavies ought to deliver a killer second album; even with its flaws, Every Damn Time is an impressive set of messed-up 21st century blues. - Mark Deming / Spun.com - All Music Guide -------------------------

Rev. John Wesley Myers -- keyboardist, preacher's son and exactly one-half of Nashville blues duo Black Diamond Heavies -- launches charm attacks with such fervor as to enslave you. He speaks and sings like a young Tom Waits, and slinks across the keys like a coked-up baboon with nothing to lose. Myers' energy alone is enough to elicit jaw-drops from audiences, but the music is what he's pinning hope on (...) Now touring as a two-piece with beat destroyer Van Campbell (and occasionally his other band, the Immortal Lee County Killers), Myers looks to baptize the nation -- nay, the world -- via ass-shaking jams. - Mark Sanders / Creative Loafing -------------------------

Though they've shared the stage with quasi-hippie jammers like Gov't Mule and the North Mississippi Allstars, the Black Diamond Heavies pound harder and bathe less,... growling and spewing with as much poison as bourbon in their blood.  Their sound is homicidally distorted, a junkyard-assembled Econoline stalking the back roads from Chattanooga (their native turf) to Abilene, swerving and jerking as the bandmates fight over which 8-track to play next: John Lee Hooker, Led Zeppelin or Black Flag." - Riverfront Time -------------------------

Tom Waits probably won't be back in town anytime soon. Even if he is, he won't be rocking out songs that sound like early MC5. Thankfully, the Black Diamond Heavies are in town to soothe your need for both, since that's the kind of rootsy, dirty, punky, scraped-vocally stuff they specialize in. - Creative Loafing -------------------------

The Black Diamond Heavies are a trio based out of East Nashville, Tennessee. The music sounds like three gorillas on crack. Most of the material is original music, although covers are sometimes thrown in as tribute to gods, generals, heroes, and vampires such as John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Lou Reed and Tom Waits. The Heavies are a streamlined tour-ready outfit , and cannot be stopped. Don't even try . - Upoming.org -------------------------

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