Blues CD Reviews - 1/30/06
John Long – “Lost and Found” (Delta Groove) B+Making a statement in acoustic, country blues is a tough sell, as it is far more popular with a folk and old-time blues crowd. Yet John Long puts it over well. He does some great roots stuff, with an accent on slide guitar and some harp/piano. He puts it over authentically, esp. with tunes like #8 which conjures up Lightnin’ Hopkins. A nice surprise for a white guy. Most tunes suitable for any type mix. Tunes # 2 & 3 have “hell” in them for you FCC watchers.
Jimmy Thackery – “The Essential Jimmy Thackery” (Blind Pig) A-
Thackery may have worn the edges of his raucus post-Nighthawks guitar frenzy off by now, because this disk has some smokin’ (but not over the top) guitar work. It’s rough, tough and fluidly musical. Thackery is a road dawg who knows what he is doing. This CD is more bluesy than recent Blues-Rock offerings, but still leans towards blues-rock a la ZZ Top, BB, and Hooker. Not many tunes suitable for morning mix, but a fine album.
Guests John Mooney, Duke Robillard, Reba Russell and Lonnie Brooks add touches as well.
Watermelon Slim – “And the Workers” (Northern Blues Music) A-
A solid back up slide guitar and harmonica player, Watermelon Slim grew up in North Carolina with a voice like a gravel accident, and wicked-good slide. Despite his huge intellect (two degrees and a MENSA man), he drove trucks most of his life, until a heart attack made a decision for him to pursue music full time—because he loves it. That’s apparent in this disc. The music is really great and I seldom hear a slide player who can play support as well as solo. He’s good electric or acoustic (and the disc provides both). Vocals rough, and two tracks are possible FCC irritants (#1 & 9).
posted by Cathi N @ 1:39:00 PM
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