The sound of blues-rock is alive and well on the 2021 CD by Chicago based band The Dogtown Blues Band. The album, entitled Search No More, is filled with a bluesy, swampy sound that highlights the electric guitar work of group leader Richard Lubavitch, who also goes by the nickname “Loob”. Also featured on the ten-track, 39-minute album are Loob’s band mates, Bill Barrett (harmonica), Kasper Abbo (vocals), Wayne Peet (keyboards), Trevor Ware (upright bass) and Lance Lee (drums). Guest guitarist Marcus Watkins also appears on several tracks here. Key to the Dogtown Blues Band sound is the electrifying guitar sounds of Richard while the vocals are also quite effective too.

The choice of material on the Search No More CD is truly revealing with songs including the two CD opening tracks written by blues icon Percy Mayfield. Speaking about the two lead-off tracks on Search No More, Richard tells RMR, “I am a big fan of Percy Mayfield's work and consider him the architect of West Coast blues and blending jazz into blues. I feel his contribution to blues is monumental and shaped the future for the music. In the first two years of his career he had seven #1 records as a writer and a performer. He also wrote for Ray Charles and recorded for his label Tangerine. He wrote “Hit The Road Jack”. Overall his music moves me and that is why I recorded original arrangements of those 2 songs.”

Also here is a cover of the 1957 Little Richard song “Miss Ann” and the CD closes out with a Dogtown Blues Band cover of the Doobie Brothers classic “Long Train Coming.” While the album is mostly blues-based, the well-rounded musical expertise of these players is underscored by the band’s motto, “We like to put a little Jazz in our Blues and a little Blues in our Jazz.” You can hear that statement in effect on the album’s lone instrumental “All Night” written by Loob.

Regarding the instrumental on Search No More, Richard adds, “On “All Night”, it's deeply rooted in the blues scale. In fact that is its whole structure. It's based on Willie Dixon's “Wang Dang Doodle”. Specifically the line and riff ‘all night long’ that Koko Taylor use to repeat over and over as an intro build up to her singing “Wang Dang Doodle” live. She would just keep vamping on the line till it was ready to bust then right into the top of the song. I am from Chicago and Willie Dixon is one of my all-time favorites and I record one of his songs on all our CDs. This is our third and we put an original arrangement of “You Shook Me” on this one.

These musicians prove to be quite skillful – with most of them coming from a long pedigree and background in the blues and jazz scene. The DogTown Blues Band’s Search No More makes for a very cool album of bluesy-rock with a nod to jazz.