Onno Smit, guitarist of soul band Lefties Soul Connection, founded the occasional project Beans & Fatback in 2010. Along with a host of guest musicians, he recorded in a Curse and a Sigh the debut album Finger Lickin Good! on. A sympathetic album but also somewhat unbalanced, which made it sound like a good-humored hobby project. How different is that on Smit's second album With Skin Attached.
Beans & Fatback now sound like a close-knit band, lovingly immersing themselves night after night during listening sessions with the best American roots music. That leads to a varied roots album with stylish songs. Greasy Southern soul (Come And Get, What's A Man To Do) predominates, but Beans & Fatback play just as sweetly burly honkytonk country (Same Old Thing) or a John Lee Hooker pastiche (Devil Son's Blues). This makes the group a nice addition to the Dutch music landscape, because a band like Beans & Fatback was not around yet. (PdK)more
