Bywater Call is a Canadian band known for mixing a huge range of musical styles with a sense of real enjoyment in their playing. Their last studio album, last year’s Shepherd garnered widespread critical acclaim whilst understandably not fully revealing the powerhouse performances they generate live – cue the welcome release of this new album Sunshine, a six-song live collection recorded across a variety of venues on last year’s tours. The album again features emotional vocals and exciting interplay between all the members of the band – Meghan Parnell (vocals) and Dave Barnes (guitar) being the founding members, very ably backed by Bruce McCarthy on drums, Mike Meusel on Bass, John Kervin on Keys, Stephen Dyte on trumpet and Julian Nalli on tenor sax. Together, their catalogue is a journey through so many influences, including the likes of The Band, The Wood Brothers, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Otis Redding, Little Feat, Sly and the Family Stone, Janis Joplin, Alabama Shakes… the list goes on and on!
Sunshine features a mix of newly released music, including their cover of Stephen Stills’ Love The One You’re With and the funky new original title-track (previously released as a single in May 2025). As a whole, the album is an epic, energetic revelation for the uninitiated, and a perfect snapshot as to why Bywater Call are winning new fans across the globe.
First up is the title track, recorded at Arlington Arts, Newbury, UK (see the video below). A glorious melange of soul, jazz, blues, swing, you name it! There’s sax solos, timelessly swirling organ, an eclectic band sound that reminds me of Southside Johnny and the Asbury Dukes, and Graham Parker and the Rumour – but topped with That Voice. Meghan Parnell just effortlessly swoops and delivers pure sonic passion in the best Southern gospel tradition while John Kervin’s keys and Julian Nalli’s sax are a masterclass in musicianship.
Next are two songs recorded at Colony, Woodstock, New York. Bring Me Down is one of their earliest numbers, from their 2019 self-titled debut album. Here, it’s a full-on slow-bluesy ten-minute epic. Laid back and luscious guitar licks and soulful organ underpin the tour-de-force that is Meghan’s singing on this. And Dave Barnes’ extended jazz-blues solo towards the end is a dreamy exposition of fuzzed-out (and slide?) resonator guitar – wonderful stuff. As If follows, it’s a fan-favourite from 2024’s Shepherd and I think illustrates the band’s increasing maturity and confidence. It’s quite ‘urgent’, with a beautifully bubbly bassline, another brassy addition, a punchy drumline, all punctuated by warbly keys and dreamy lead guitar work – this feels like a joyous work-out where the band are simply letting rip and having a ball! A real earworm of a pacey jazz-blues melody runs throughout this extended number, twice as long as the studio version, a particular highlight being the trumpet work from Stephen Dyte (not often you hear me say that!) and the interplay between this and more delectably languid guitar licks from Mr Barnes – this guy is a real, real discovery live!
Then we get three songs recorded at a “home-town gig”, the Rivoli, Toronto, Canada. First up is a regular band favourite live, the Stephen Still song getting stretched into another whopping ten-minute epic. Love The One You’re With perhaps sums up everything the band like to put into their live shows, displaying so much chemistry and craftsmanship of the instrumentalists, not to mention the sheer power of Meghan’s vocals in between.
The band say that each live performance of this song is different, every time they perform it, it becomes a kind of journey. This particular version is again underpinned by an “express train” bass and percussion section, with big horns from the two brass-boys. The main solo is from sax player Julian, mixing it with some tasty percussion and jazzy rhythm guitar, Dave then leading from the front with his fretwork skills. I won’t say “solo” because it’s such a super-tight, complete band performance, it almost feels wrong to pick out any individual excellence!
Lastly we get the two “bookend” tracks off Shepherd, starting naturally enough with the closing number Sign Of Peace. This feels like a traditional spiritual number straight out of New Orleans – led in by jazzy but understated piano morphing into a totally exuberant, good-time gospel work-out featuring trumpet, Meghan’s commanding voice, then slowing into pure bar-room blues with honky-tonk piano and jazzy horns before another infectious fast-paced jazz-swing work-out – simply great fun!
Finally, we have Everybody Knows, a real slab of southern blues-rock allied to a downright fierce gospel vocal. It reminds me a lot of the first Alabama Shakes album, a marriage of Aretha Franklin with a healthy slab of Black Crowes! More luscious slide guitar from Dave Barnes, massively funky honky-tonk piano and rhythm section, a great guitar solo and a huge harmonic gospel chorus – all zoom in and out within this eight minute beast as a finale to bring this album to a very satisfying conclusion.
As live albums go, this one demonstrates the band commanding their innate ability to improvise jazzy lines, to innovate and play off each other, while highlighting the gritty, dynamic, and emotive vocals of lead singer Meghan Parnell.
It is a true reflection of the heart and sweat poured out by them on stage every night, the proceedings being very ably captured and mixed by drummer Bruce McCarthy, and mastered by Kristian Montano from Montano Mastering.
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In November 2025, they will headline their third UK tour and play Planet Rock’s Planet Rockstock Festival in Wales on 27th November.
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