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Justin Golden—Golden Country: Volume 2—Vocal Rest
Records

Justin Golden from Virginia issued his “Golden Country: Vol-
ume 1” in January this year and now already we have Volume
2, with Justin backed up again with the band Devil’s Coattails
– Trey Burnhart Hall (mandolin, banjo, guitar), Chris Gatens
(bass, banjo), Drew Barnocky (percussion) and with Andrew
Ali (harmonica). Like the previous album this is a collection
of classic blues, country and folk songs, with again both

acoustic and electric interpretations, we get underway with
a band version of the classic ‘Sitting on Top of the World’ with
a rhythm section, organ and mandolin. Justin follows this with Merle Travis’s ‘Sixteen Tons’
with banjo and steel guitar and even Leroy Carr’s blues ‘Papa's on the Housetop’ is given a
country twist with swinging fiddle and honky-tonk piano and the bluegrass song ‘Left My Girl
in the Mountains’ sounds great with its mandolin and blues harmonica.

Another classic ‘St. James Infirmary’ is taken at a stately pace, with lovely double bass, mando-
lin and more subtle blues harp, then it’s a rocked up version of Sleepy John Estes’ ‘Diving Duck
Blues’ – with a surprising Hammond organ break. ‘If I Keep It Together’ is a country song with
mandolin and steel guitar and we finish with a sprightly mandolin-led version of the spiritual
‘Keep Your Hand on the Plow’. Volume 2 is a bit more country than volume 1 but I quite liked
the straight blues songs like ‘Papa’s on the Housetop’ and ‘Diving Duck Blues’ done with
country accompaniment and the mandolin and banjo do really lift things reminding me of the
Carolina Chocolate Drops.

Graham Harrison

Shemekia Copeland—Blame It On Eve—Alligator Re-
cords ASIN : B0D7BTZZMJ

This is Shemekia’s fourth album with guitarist/co-
writer/producer Will Kimbrough and although I’m a fan and
have liked the previous albums I do feel that they have be-
come a bit predictable - in both the overall blues/Americana
sounds and also the lyrics commenting on socio-political
issues – and I’d like to hear her do something different with
another producer. She still has the killer voice of course as
she demonstrates on the opening title track and also ‘Tough
Mother’ with Luther Dickinson handling the slide guitar “I’m
a tough mother, don’t you mess with me…” – I wouldn’t dream of it Shemekia! ‘I Only Miss You
All the Time’ is a stunning minor key slow blues and by contrast ‘Broken High Heels’ is an
up-tempo Stones-style rocker, while ‘Wine O’Clock’ is a loping Jimmy Reed-style blues “Think
I’ll have another glass, the world can kiss my ass…”

‘Is There Anybody Up There?’ is another rocker with Alejandro Escovedo helping out on vocals
and ‘Cadillac Blue’ is a love song featuring Jerry Douglas on lap steel and Jerry also plays dobro
on ‘Tee Tot Payne’ – which tells the story of the black street musician teaching Hank Williams