Advanced Medication For The Blues

Keith Sykes’ ninth solo album, Advanced Medication For The Blues, is a self-produced rock record and the debut release for Memphis-based Syren Records.

Advanced Medication For The Blues rocks full tilt from the opening track and never lets up. Highlights include “I Know An Angel,” a loving testament to youthful innocence he wrote for his grandchild, Kelsey; “The Whole 9 Yards,” a modern-day outlaw tale; and “One World,” which takes a sitar-like riff and infuses it with a swamp groove worthy of Dire Straits. The CD was produced, recorded and mixed at The Woodshed–Memphis by Keith Sykes.

Check out what the media has to say about Keith Sykes and Advanced Medication for the Blues:

• Keith is an unsung hero of Memphis’ singer-songwriter tradition. Check out the despairing “One Up One Down” for a passionate example of his craft. – G. Brown/The Denver Post
• Keith Sykes makes records far too infrequently; a fine collection of tracks. – Jason Ankeny/All-Music Guide
• Six years after his last album, roots rocker Sykes returns with a barn burner. Sykes writes like a maniac unleashed. – Alanna Nash/ Entertainment Weekly
• Jimmy Buffett, Jerry Jeff Walker and John Prine have all covered his songs. He comes up with a winner in “I Know an Angel.” – Bill Ellis/The Commercial Appeal
• Part swamp, part blues, and certainly pop induced, he offers well-crafted, guitar-driven three-minute pop snapshots. What separates Sykes from the herd are catchy melodies coated with lyrics that are self-deprecating and full of wit. These are not philosophical musings of the big picture, but pinpricks of the local Joe just trying to make life work. – Dirty Linen