I very rarely give albums a “required listen,” but this one is a must. You'll be scraping the grease off your walls and the smoke out of your clothes, as Andy, Joe, Josh, Ed and Chris take you to Sweet Home Chicago's deepest southwest side dive. You'll like the sound so much you won't want to leave. I'm not saying this because these guys are great people, friends, or award winning musicians both locally and nationally; I'm saying this because is one of the best records I've heard in the past five years. You'll be better off if you don't miss this record.
Ben “The Harpman” Cox, Juke Joint Soul • 25 January 2010

This is not only KABB’s best album to date, it is one of the best blues albums I’ve heard for some time. I read somewhere that their mission was to smile in your face and then kick you in the ass, musically speaking. They succeeded. These guys are special and I have the bruises to prove it! Rating: 10 out of 10.

Morgan M Hogarth
Blues In Britain Magazine • 2010

The Kilborn Alley Blues Band kills. Picture a deep-dish Chicago version of the Fabulous Thunderbirds back 30 years ago.
Tom Clark, review of Tear Chicago Down, Hittin’ the Note • Issue 55, 2007

This thing doesn't begin with sweetness; no, it brings you directly to Chicago. You immediately feel the energy filling you, smashing you, and then the second tune arrives, wonderful, as you easily imagine it was composed by an old bluesman from the West Side-- even if the mid tempo disturbs you a little-- and then with the third song the madness deepens.

Tonton Erick, review of Tear Chicago Down, Blues & Co. (France) • December 2007

The Kilborn Alley Blues Band plays the blues like they mean it. No . . . Like they have no choice in the matter. They make me remember why I became attached to this music in the first place.

Mark Saleski, review of Tear Chicago Down, BlogCritics.com • 20 November 2007

The Kilborn Alley blues Band certainly have that X-factor. The only criticism I have is that there is an awful lot of reworking going on; but then it isn’t done in the usual clumsy fashion—they are putting on a Blues review. These guys are diamonds with lots of facets, and they are shining brightly.

Billy Hutchinson, review of Put It In the Alley, Blues Matters (UK) • August / September 2006

Chicago’s Kilborn Alley Blues Band sounds like one of those combos that
perform with so much spontaneity that they never play a song the same way
twice. . . . Five stars!

Gary von Tersch, review of Put It In the Alley, Blues & Rhythm (UK) • August 2006

The prescription for creating a Chicago blues album is well known, but it is difficult to achieve in practice. Andrew Duncanson is a killer singer—a cross between Junior Wells and Van Morrison; Joe Asselin is a harmonica player of considerable accomplishment, and the band has a hard working rhythm section, nothing loud or showy, but very attentive to details. Kilborn Alley takes you back to another time. These thirteen songs, twelve originals, are like magic; pass the cd from hand to hand, even bend it, and ask yourself, “Where is the trick?” This album is simply too good to be true.

Luca Lupoli, review of Put It In the Alley, Il Popolo del Blues (online) (Italy) • February 2007

Charisma, talent, joy and music that grabs you by the ears and doesn’t let go. I can count on 2 hands the bands that have had what The Kilborn Alley Blues Band has and I’m talkin’ about 40 years of listening to Blues. Yes, this band is THAT SPECIAL!

A. Grigg, review of Put It In the Alley, Real Blues (Canada) • November 2006

"Kilborn Alley . . . is the sort of blues band that makes rockers look bad."

Buzz Weekly, 17-23 • March 2005, p. 11

Kilborn Alley took the stage with a vengeance and got the crowd revved up from the first note as harp player Joe Asselin displayed his unbelievable lung power on “Train To Memphis”. Josh Stimmel tested the strength of his Gibson’s strings with his mighty note bending on some down-home licks on “Foolsville.” Andrew Duncanson’s commanding, soulful vocals, which alternated between the styles of Howlin’ Wolf and Otis Redding, thundered across the room. His show-stopping performance on “Better Off Now” elicited whoo’s and yeah’s from the fans and even had the wait staff stopped in their tracks. That number earned the quintet the award for Best Blues Song, the title track from the band’s CD on Blue Bella.

Linda Cain, Review of 2010 Blues Blast Music Awards at Buddy Guy’s Legends, Chicago - Chicago Blues Guide (online) • October 29, 2010

The Kilborn Alley Blues Band’s third album, Better Off Now, stakes a claim for the band as among the genre’s elite music-makers. . . .
It’s been a decade now since the Kilborn Alley Blues Band, with several members then barely out of high school, started their slow-but-sure ascent to the top of the pile on the competitive Chicago blues scene. While earlier albums earned them acclaim and award nominations, Better Off Now shoots for all the marbles, scoring with an inspired collection of raucous performances so authentic in their Chicago blues roots that you can smell the smoke and feel the heat.

Keith A. Gordon
Blues Revue • June-July 2010

In the liner notes to the Kilborn Alley Blues Band’s latest disc, Better off Now, vocalist/guitarist Andrew Duncanson recalls the music scene of his hometown, Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, where people “expected their blues to be Honeyboy, Buddy, B.B., Denise LaSalle, Bobby Rush, and Stan Mosley.” That’s the pedigree of this band’s classic Chess-inspired blues.
The KABB is a sophisticated, R&B-soaked throwback to 1950s Chicago. While their music is vintage, their attitude is defiantly current. They’ve perfected a sinister shuffle a la Willie “Big Eyes” Smith, incorporated savvy, warbling harmonica that ricochets through the mix, and paired Jimmy Rogers-inspired guitar licks with . . . vocalist Duncanson’s deep southern inflected pipes. . . .The title track is a master work of soul, with Eric Michaels providing B-3 organ while Duncanson preaches with Wilson Pickett-inspired vocals.

Mark Uricheck, Living Blues • June 2010

The KABB sound is seamless in a way I rarely hear today.  Some bands would create an ensemble by divvying up the solos among their members, making sure each got equal time out front.  That's not what these guys do.  Solos are rare and spare.  They're there and you can pick out the different instruments from time to time, but the real sound of KABB is the way they can meld the harmonica and guitars and bond that to the rhythms being pounded out by Chris Breen and Ed O'Hara.  Their sound is thick and muscular, oozing and bloozing without overkill and ego.  The pieces don't just fit together, they belong together.  It's the way they approach songwriting. . . .
Kilborn Alley Blues Band delivers on the promise of their previous records and reaches new heights. They've broadened their musical horizons without diluting their sound. They confidently move through different components of the blues — shuffles, soulful ballads, and hardboiled blues — and demonstrate mastery of them all.  They are also more consistent than they've been on either of the first two records with no weak moments or missteps.  Better Off Now is more than just the best album of their young career, it's one of the best blues records of recent memory.

Josh Hathaway, Seattle Post-Intelligencer (online) • 17 March 2010