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with electric guitars and plinky-plonky piano. Like his predecessors Corey Harris and Alvin
Youngblood Hart Jontavius is a young black man who is obviously very proud of his blues
heritage and like them he isn’t just content to learn and reproduce authentic vintage sounds
both with his vocals and his guitar technique but here he’s also put his own spin on them. His
song writing also shows this respect for the past as well as his rural environment but also a

desire to acknowledge the present and contemporary influences.

Graham Harrison

Luke Winslow-King—Flash-A-Magic—Bloodshot Re-
cords ASIN : B0D457CYSD

Luke’s first couple of albums when he was based in New
Orleans were very bluesy and rootsy featuring his slide gui-
tar, his more recent records have seen him teaming up with
Italian slide guitar maestro Roberto Luti (of Playing for

Change fame) and becoming more rocky, while still being
blues-based. Having said that the opener here ‘Everywhere
You Go There You Are' is very bluesy with dual acoustic slide
guitars, while the title track is more soul with skittering
drums, wonderful organ from Memphis’s Charles Hodges and
backup vocals from The Barnes Brothers. The album was recorded in both Memphis and

Tuscany, Italy with Luke and Roberto both producing and also co-writing the songs. ‘If I Were
You’ is also bluesy but more electric and with more great organ and ‘Black Eyed Gypsy’ is a
gentler, melodic ballad.

‘Peaches’ is built around the old blues lyric “If you don’t like my peaches, don’t shake my tree”
and features great guitar interplay as it increases and decreases in intensity, reminding me of
Captain Beefheart! ‘Ave (Steel Rail Angel)’ is also very bluesy with marching drums and
Howlin’ Wolf-style rhythm guitar plus lovely plinky-plonky piano and I really liked the subtle
ballad ‘How Could I Forget’ with its beautiful slide guitar solos. ‘Best Be Leavin’’ starts with the

classic Elmore James slide riff and then has maracas coming in to give it a Bo Diddley beat as
the slide guitar provides the rhythm and we check out with ‘Good Morning’ - another beautiful
melodic ballad with heartrending vocals from Luke and The Barnes Brothers. I’m really glad
that Luke has upped the blues content on this record but he still manages to make everything

sound modern and unique without resorting to the same old cliches and as well as the superb
guitar playing from him and Roberto they also do a fine job with the production which really
lifts tracks like ‘Peaches’ and ‘How Could I Forget’.

Graham Harrison