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Smoky Greenwell—Blues for Democracy—Greenwell
(www.smokygreenwell.com)

It is election year in the USA of course, and New Orleans based
singer, harmonica player, and songwriter Smoky leaves listeners
in no doubt just where his vote will be going. Tracks like ‘Liars,
Cheaters, And Losers’ and ‘99% Blues’ might indicate that Smoky
would probably not be a great friend of Donald Trump.

So yes, this is a fiercely political set, whether directly aimed at
Republicans or more generally the state of the USA as on the closing
‘Homeless Christmas’. But Smoky also offers solutions with
numbers like the fine shuffle of ‘Get Out And Vote’ and a strong
cover of Wilbert Harrison’s ‘Let’s Work Together’.

Musically Smoky is firmly in blues territory whether evoking Jimmy Reed as on ‘Between Iraq

And A Hard Place’ or boogying in classic Canned Heat style on the nearly nine minutes of ‘Common
Ground’. Then there is the jump Texas blues shuffle of ‘99% Blues’, with the vocals appropriately
enough shared (democratically enough, of course!) among eight singers. Some fine musicians
also provide the backing throughout, including keyboards player Johnny Neel, who helped
co-write many of these songs.

I enjoyed this a lot. Hey Smoky, how about a cover of Bobo Jenkins’ ‘Democrat Man’?

Norman Darwen

Michael Messer & Chaz Jankel—Mostly We Drive— Knife
Edge
(www.michaelmesser.co.uk)
Slide guitar maestro Michael Messer and multi-instrumentalist
Chaz Jankel have been friends for over four decades, though mu-
sically they went in different directions. Michael – here on vocals
and various guitars – ostensibly in a blues direction, albeit one
that included a lot of world music influences (he was in the past
sometimes compared favourably to Ry Cooder) whilst Chaz was
most notably guitarist and keyboards player for new wave leg-
ends Ian Dury & The Blockheads. His enthusiasm for the music of
Sly & The Family Stone was the reason much of their music has a strong funk feel.

Michael doesn’t really do straight blues covers, but listen to a track like ‘Slow Down Billy’, an
original with a relentless slide guitar driven groove with strong echoes of vintage Bukka White.
The title track has shades of blues, Hawaiian music, gospel and country maybe, but stylistically
the albums ranges across to the mellow, almost ambient instrumental of ‘Arcadia’, and the rap
influenced recitation of ‘Music Brings Us Close Together’. Michael finishes the set with a Robert
Johnson-esque ‘Time Well Spent’, the most conventional blues number here.
Holding this all together throughout though is Michael’s slide guitar – and the blues - and he is
able to employ numerous approaches. Certainly, in Chaz, Michael Messer seems to have found a
very fine foil and a kindred spirit – this very pleasing release works extremely well indeed.

Norman Darwen