Sometimes, you just need a meditative blues song. Old friends Johnny and Slide came together to record an album, creating songs that reside somewhere between blues and hip hop. “Bound for Glory” sounds like it could be a cover of a traditional blues song. Yet the hypnotic repetition of the lyrics and quiet determination give the song a trance-like, new age feel.
John E Vistic and Slide Hambidge recorded their first album of blues and folk songs together over 15 years ago – bringing together the songwriting prowess of Mr Vistic with the old school delta blues guitar style of Mr Slide. The duo played a bunch of gigs across Australia. To cut a long story short – during lockdown Slide had been recording some old school blues riff ideas and sent them to Vistic, who had just set up a new home studio. The timing was fortuitous, as Vistic had also just recorded an online album with old friend Dr Doc Moody, a seminal triphop producer from Bristol (now living in the country in his residential studio). Vistic immediately saw the potential for a new Johnny and Slide reunion album. Slide would send him a riff, or Vistic send slide a whole new song, for him to play on. In only a matter of weeks, a new 14 track album was made (12 tracks and 2 hidden acoustic extras). Vistic then sent his rough mixes to Doc Moody to add his magic production and mastering.
The album name, concept and artwork came naturally from Vistic’s always double edged lyrics and the sound of the record – a lament for lost times and old ambitions, and a celebration of those hustlers and grifters who make it through hard times – still (perhaps foolishly) keeping those dreams of a life “Bound for Glory” alive. The artwork is taken from pictures of Johnny and Slide’s past lives and their friends – “he whole sick crew”, once so young. Dreams die and are reborn. We are all bound for glory (but rarely the kind we think). Love, like Glory, must be reborn or lost.