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Clarence the finer points of horn arrangements, harmony, rhythm, and chord progressions, which
he still puts to good use today. After 6 years with the Pennsylvania-based singer Greg Palmer’s
band, Clarence formed his own band ‘West Third Street Blues Band’ in the 90s, working by day as a
union excavator while writing and playing in the evenings.

Due to personal problems and family tragedy over the years this is only his third album, the other

two being his debut the 1996 ‘Nature of the Beast’ which gained a nomination for a 1997 W.C.
Handy Award for Best New Artist Debut and ‘Just Between Us’, which garnered a 2009 Blues Music
Award nomination for Soul Blues Album of the year. The 9 numbers here include three previously
unreleased live numbers from a performance at the River St. Jazz Café in Plains, PA, in 1999; the
others have been crafted over the last twenty years. In the studio Clarence is on lead vocals and
guitar, he is joined by Adam Schultz; rhythm and lead guitar, Jon Ventre; bass, Scott Brown and
Bob O’Connell; keyboards, Tom Hamilton; tenor and baritone saxophones, drums are supplied by

Andy Pace, Sharon O’Connell, Pat Marcinko, and Barry Harrison.

The Memphis soul drenched ‘If My Life Was A Book’, is a recollection of a tragedy filled life, the
painful inflections in Clarence’s vocals only add to his story of woe. The attractive organ and
harmonica led shuffle that is ‘K-Man’, is in fact an emotion filled lament for the loss of Clarence’s
son Khalique, who died aged 25. While Clarence’s version of Z.Z. Hill’s ‘Down Home Blues’, is a
splendid acoustic lilting slow blues with a lovely wailing harmonica courtesy of Tom Martin, the
rolling piano outro is just fine. ‘Surrender’, is a very emotive, starkly honest and crisply delivered,
slow burning autobiographical Blues. A smoking ‘Addiction Game’, from the live 1999 performance

settles in to become a smouldering organ and saxophone groove with a fluid, rich Jazz imbued
guitar that effortlessly rises to the top. On ‘Lucky’ Peterson’s ‘When My Blood Runs Cold’, Clarence
achieves just that with a jagged guitar and ice cold vocals, underneath is a mellow guitar and
gently urging and rising organ. Splendid!

Greatly endorsed

Brian Harman.

The Reverend Shawn Amos—The Cause Of It All—Put Together
Music PTM-00018

Although it is less than a year since the release of ‘Blue Sky’,

with his band The Brotherhood, The Reverend has released this,
his 8th album. Together with guitarist Chris ‘Doctor’ Roberts—
the Rev, as you would expect, is on vocals and harmonica—they
have got together in the classic ‘duo’ format to create a mixture
of the old and the new in response to the frustrations and
restrictions of worldwide lockdown. They have recorded 10 well
known and not so well known numbers unencumbered by the

trappings of a well equipped studio. On side one (the first 5
numbers) the wall of sound they create is one of decades ago where the electric guitar is thick and
heavy with menace and with an oppressive bass like resonance, while the Rev’s distorted vocals
and harmonica punch their way through. A fine example is Willie Dixon's ‘Spoonful’, the wailing
harmonica and burning guitar fuse together under an emotional vocal. A lesser known number
written in the 90’s is ‘Goin’ To The Church’, by the late Lester Butler. The rich insistent guitar
underpins a stark emotion filled vocal that gives way to a stirring pugnacious harmonica. John Lee
Hooker’s ‘Serves Me Right To Suffer’, is a powerful, slow burning, melancholic rendition, full of