Bman's Blues Report

I just received the newest release, I Ain't Lyin'... , from Charlie Musselwhite and its Chicago style blues pure and simple. Opening with Latin flavored, Good Blues Tonight , Musselwhite is joined by Matt Stubbs on guitar, June Core on drums and Steve Froberg on bass. With classic Musselwhite harp styling and a snazzy guitar solo by Stubbs this is a cool opener. Elmore James' Done Somebody Wrong , is up next and has classic 70's arrangement not unlike Beck and Page or the Allmans but with Musselwhite's signature vocals and harp riffs. Stubbs has a clean guitar dialog which, with cool vibrato has a punch of it's own. Long Lean Lanky Mama is one of my favorite tracks on the release with it's freewheeling harp and deliberate guitar attack. Very nice! Slow blues, Always Been Your Friend , really gives Stubbs a solid floor to solo on guitar and Musselwhite delivers nicely on harp and vocals. Morganfield style, If I Should Have Bad Luck , is a great toe tappe...

I just received the newest release, Juke Joint Chapel , from Charlie Musselwhite and it's a monster. I've been listening to Musselwhite for years and I can honestly say that this is my favorite release in some time. Opening with Eddie Taylor's Bad Boy , a super shuffle track, Musselwhite sets a firm groove. Musselwhite has a distinctive style and tone and it's strong here with Charlie on vocals and swinging guitar work from Matt Stubbs. On Shakey Jake track Roll Your Money Maker , Musselwhite and bassist Mike Phillips have a lot of fun with the vocals and Stubbs rips out some smoking hot riffs. On Tony Joe White's As The Crow Flies , Musselwhite really gets the Chicago groove going on harp. With some hot work by June Core on drums, Stubbs steps up with cool great riffs. On Billy Boy Arnold's Gone Too Long , Musselwhite takes a more melodic take on his solo with sounds of his work from the 70's. Very cool. Stubbs steps up again with some really nice riffs...