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You don’t often come across a song in three four time but ‘Itinerant Waltz’ uses that waltz beat
to conjure up a nice Cajun feel once again. It’s back to that rootsy rocking blues vibe with ‘Mr
Big Shot’ before heading off towards Doo-Wop territory with ‘Darling, Please’. The album
closes with ‘Honey’s Coming Home’ which is a play on Sonny Boy Williamson’s ‘Bring It On
Home’ with some fine harmonica to match, a fitting way to end the album.

This is a fine well produced blues album. The songs are well constructed with well crafted

lyrics. The vocals stand up nicely in the mix with good clear diction and the instrumentation is
good throughout. You won’t find any of those long overkill guitar solos here but what you will
find is lots of harmonica which really makes this album stand out. At times Liam Ward sounds
like Charlie Musselwhite at other times like Sugar Blue but there is no overplaying here as all
the songs are nicely varied and everything fits together just right.

Here we have two fine musicians on top of their game and they work so well together. They
have managed to produce a fantastic album and I strongly recommend you give this a spin.

Ged Wilson

Eric Bibb—Live At The Scala Theatre Stockholm—Stony
Plain Records

Eric Bibb needs no introduction as he is an award winning blues
artist known the world over and this new release is recorded
live in Stockholm.

The album opens with ‘Goin’ Down The Road Feelin’ Bad’ a nice
gentle tune which sets the scene for the whole album. ‘Silver
Spoon’ gently swings and gets your foot tapping whilst ‘Along
The Way’ to put it simply; is just a beautiful song. There is a
‘Gotta Move’ type vibe to ‘Things Is ‘Bout Comin’ My Way’ which features some nice harp work.

The song ‘Rosewood’ carries some really strong poignant lyrics and the aptly titled ‘Whole
World’s Got The Blues’ features a really tasty guitar solo from Johan Lindström. The album
closes in style with Eric’s arrangement of the traditional tune ‘Mole In The Ground’ and it’s
nice to hear the crowd singing along to this one.

Eric has assembled a fine band of musicians who seem to have bought into his gentle bluesy
style. I liked the harmonica work of Greger Andersson which reminded me of Sonny Terry and
I enjoyed Esbjörn Hazelius on fiddle who brought to mind Sugar Cane Harris.

Needless to say Eric Bibb is impeccable as a storyteller, guitarist and singer. His voice is gentle
yet so emotive and he just exudes calm. This being a live album it is a great rendition of how I
remember seeing him perform live. As well as the audience involvement you get a sense of live
ambience that the theatre throws out which is nice. This is another great album from Eric and
I’m sure you will feel completely chilled out after listening!

Ged Wilson