Bill Toms and Hard Rain - Good For My Soul
  • I'D BE A RICH MAN TODAY
  • BACK TO MEMPHIS
  • NOTHING LIKE MY BABY
  • DEVIL'S TRAIN
  • HARD TO SAY GOODBYE
  • WORKIN'
  • I'M SAD NO MORE
  • INTO THE STORM
  • YOUR LOVE IS GOOD FOR MY SOUL
  • I'M GOING HOME
  • DESPERATE TIMES
Press

Elmore Magazine
Bill Toms was lead guitarist for Pittsburgh, PA’s legendarily rambunctious band, Joe Grushecky and The Houserockers. Sports Illustrated called them “The Best Bar Band” in America, and they opened for Stevie Ray Vaughn, Bob Dylan, Little Feat and Bruce Springsteen, who loved their boisterous, gritty drive so much that he produced their American Babylon CD (1995). Currently, Bill Toms is touring the US and Europe, promoting a new rock ‘n’ soul CD. It’s bound to appeal to fans of poetic, working-class rock that frees you up to feel, think and dance.

Staffed mainly by former members of the Houserockers with 20 years of shared experience, Hard Rain sounds well-rehearsed yet feels spontaneous. The players are Tom Valentine (bass), Tom Breiding (guitars), Phil Brontz (tenor sax), Bernie Herr (drums), Steve Binsberger (piano, organ), Steve Graham (trombone), J.D. Chaisson (trumpet). Producer Will Kimbrough sits in on guitars and mandolins.

Toms wrote or co-wrote all 11 tracks, balancing sad and thoughtful words with energetic music, mixing gritty rock with traditional Gospel and soul. By the fourth song, he sounds like someone you’ve known a long time; someone who’s told you what he believes, and a few secrets, too. Standout cuts include “Devil’s Train.” In a soul arrangement with a traditional blues flavor, the percussion will make your shoulders move and your hi-tops tap. In “Working,” an example of great storytelling, a man is so broke, all he has is making love to his woman, but the landlord’s knocking on the door for the rent. “Into The Storm” is so much fun! Phil Brontz’s sax solo is bursting with vitality and the Soulville Horns sound as hot as Pittsburgh BBQ.

Pgh. City Paper
The grit in Bill Toms’ voice gives his songs a great deal of authority. Before he even gets to the opening line of “Back to Memphis,” he lets fly with a gravelly “wellll,” that makes you stand up and take notice. Behind him, the members of Hard Rain have already returned to that Tennessee city, banging out a groove that pays tribute to classics heard on Stax Records.

For his ninth studio album, Good for My Soul, Toms combines his blue-collar rock roots with a horn-driven blend of R&B, gospel and blues. Album opener “I’d Be a Rich Man Today” recalls the prime days of Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, with its bright horn shouts behind the vocals.

But Toms virtually starts a spiritual revival in the album’s second half, with the rousing “I’m Sad No More,” setting the scene thanks to Steve Binsberger’s sanctified organ introduction. In between, tracks like “Nothing Like My Baby” and “Your Love Is Good for My Soul” — with Binsberger offering a rich piano groove this time — go straight for the soul feeling.

All lines meet in the closing “Desperate Times,” a rallying call for anyone facing personal hardship, delivered with the weight of a hymn. It might be secular, but it can generate an “Amen” anyway.

Pittsburgh Post- Gazette
When Bill Toms sings about “coming back to Memphis” on his new album, “Good for My Soul,” you can bet that he’s doing it on a train.

The Pittsburgh singer-songwriter who spent 20 years in Joe Grushecky and the Houserockers and has been fronting Bill Toms and Hard Rain just as long, honors the standard soul vocabulary on the band’s ninth album.

Yet again, producer and guitarist Rick Witkowski brings his expert touch to the proceedings at his Studio L in Weirton, W.Va. Guitarist Will Kimbrough, who was brought in to co-produce, writes in the liner notes, “We compared what we were doing to our favorite Stax Records. To the Willie Mitchell-produced Hi Records masterpieces — Al Green, Syl Johnson. To the soul gospel of the Staples Singers. To the East Coast soul of the O’Jays, Dyke and the Blazers.”

Mr. Toms, inspired by Dr. John, Little Feat and, along with the obvious Springsteen and Grushecky influences, taps into Stax soul, like Southside Johnny would do it, on “I’d Be Rich Man Today”; rattles the walls with a funk workout, growling like Tom Waits, on “Devil’s Train”; lays back into late-night ballad mode on “Hard to Say Goodbye” and “I’m Going Home,” and takes it to church on “I’m Sad No More.” “Desperate Times” sounds the most like a long-lost Houserockers song.

Throughout, he has the Soulville Horns, led by saxophonist Phil Brontz, to spike the sound.

“The idea of a horn section behind my songs has been something I’ve thought about for a while,” Mr. Toms noted. “Albert King, and all the Stax artists come to mind when I think of what true rhythm ’n’ blues can do. I wanted a piece of that; creating dynamics, and drama within the song; and fostering the deep emotion that a great horn section can give. The words also needed this place — in order to be fully interpreted as the representation of ‘my America,’ and the people who make up my small part of this world.”

The ninth album by Hard Rain doesn’t break any new ground — that’s not what he was trying to do — but it’s a fine addition to his catalog of blue-collar soul.

Pittsburgh Tribune- Review
A sly and pensive lyricist, Toms wrote the songs during the run-up to the 2016 presidential election. Neither overtly or implicitly political, the compositions do reflect his concern over the world's increasing fragility. Lyrically, Toms took cues from blues artists in the first part of the 20th century, who were not able to openly write about oppression or discrimination.

New Jersey Stage
With his ninth full-length studio release, Good For My Soul (street date October 27), Toms channels a foot-stomping, wall-shaking blend of soul, blues, gospel, and rock vibes, all brought together with his lyrical specialty -- stories of everyday men and women doing their best to stay ahead while still managing to keep a dream or two in their heads.

Ink 19 /Bob Pomeroy
Bill Toms sings about working and desperate times with a raw honesty. His backing band includes an ace horn section who punctuate the songs ripping solos. Toms sings about the “Devil’s Train” and “Desperate Times”, but then he turns the barroom into a church with the hand clapping, gospel revival of “I’m Sad No More”. Bill Toms & Hard Rain preaches the gospel of Stax and keep faith with the Chess brothers. They keep the spirit of Sam Cooke and Clarence Clemons alive. They know how to sing about hard times. They know how to reassure that hard times don’t last. They hold service on the blues bar circuit and offer absolution with a beer and a shot of bourbon most weekends. I’m ready to testify. It’s good for the soul.

Uniontown Pa Herald- Standard (10/6/17)
Bill Toms continues to impress by releasing new material that speaks directly to the heart and soul of anyone striving to make a difference through hard work and gutsy perseverance.

Don Crow, Don and Sheryls Blues Blog (Aug 20, 2017)
BILL TOMS AND HARD RAIN

GOOD FOR MY SOUL

TERRAPLANE RECORDS

I’D BE A RICH MAN TODAY–BACK TO MEMPHIS–NOTHING LIKE MY BABY–DEVIL’S TRAIN–HARD TO SAY GOODBYE–WORKIN–I’M SAD NO MORE–INTO THE STORM–YOUR LOVE IS GOOD FOR MY SOUL–I’M GOING HOME–DESPERATE TIMES

Bill Toms has been on the scene for a good while, fans. He started out as lead guitarist for Joe Grushecky And The Houserockers, based outta Pittsburgh, back in 1987, and they opened for anybody who was anybody that played SteelTown back in the day. Heck–their “American Babylon” set from 19995 was produced by Springsteen himself!

Bill’s ninth full-length release finds him working with his band, Hard Rain, and it is entitled “Good For My Soul,” for Terraplane Records. He’s taken the Stax-Motown-Philly soul that he grew up listening to and turned it into the eleven songs herein that embody the sound and feeling from that era. Add to that the fact that he mixes it all with a healthy dose of gospel that would make Curtis Mayfield proud.

This set was produced by Rick Witkowski and Will KImbrough, who adds slide, mandolin, and backing vocals throughout the mix. You can’t deny the spirit that fills these grooves. Bill has one of those gravelly, “last-stop-before-Joe-Cocker” vocal styles, and he really gets into the groove of the leadoff tale of a lover,, who, “if I had a penny for all the pain, I’d Be A Rich Man Today.” He digs deep into an Otis Redding groove for “Goin’ Back To Memphis,” and extols the virtues of his lover on the breezy, summertime soul of “Nothing Like My Baby.” “Workin” is a shout-out to all his steel mill brothers, “doin’ it every day to try and pay the bills.”

Two of the more “sanctified” cuts served as our favorites. “I’m Sad No More” is pure, unadulterated, hand-clapping, foot-stompin, AMEN-shoutin’ Sunday morning joy, while “I’m Going Home” is a slow-blues cut with brush-stroked drums and a moral, as, even tho the subject “feels the noose on my skin,” he also finds redemption with “peace in the Glory.”

Bill Toms, along with Steve Binsberger, who is on keys throughout, wrote all eleven of the cuts on this set. Trust us, fans—Bill and the fellows of Hard Rain make this one sho’ nuff “Good For My Soul,” and everyone else’s, too! Until next time…..Sheryl and Don Crow, The Nashville Blues Society.

CHRIS SPECTOR, Midwest Record (Jul 28, 2017)
BILL TOMS & Hard Rain/Good for My Soul: The kind of rocking road warrior that has stood toe to toe with all the modern era greats, none of that face time was ever lost on him. More than a bar band rocker, even if his roots are showing, Toms does the rock mash up, an often overlooked move, and shows what he learned from Stax, Springsteen, Dylan, Helm and the rest of the greats that unwittingly gave rise to Americana before anyone knew what it was. Wildly tasty stuff that feels spontaneous but where nothing is left to chance, this cat is a load of the real deal that time, tide and fashion can never push aside. Hot stuff.

10
  • Members:
  • Sounds Like:
    Gary Clark Jr., Robbie Robertson, Dr. John, Little Feat, Springsteen, Joe Tex, The Blasters, Otis Redding, Rufus Thomas.
  • Influences:
    Bob Dylan, Muddy Waters, Rolling Stones, Howlin Wolf, Chuck Berry, The Replacements, Tom Petty, The Clash
  • AirPlay Direct Member Since:
    08/30/17
  • Profile Last Updated:
    08/14/23 13:17:31

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