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item. ‘Dirty Water’ is a slow grinding blues with blues harp by Peter Chase, and a fine electric
piano break, whilst ‘Romp’ is a pleasant instrumental.

All in all, an interesting and enjoyable set. Worth checking out.

Norman Darwen

(www.meanoldfireman.com)

Milwaukee and Friends—Crossing Borders—ZOUNDR

This German five-piece is not a blues band as such, but kind of
comes into the “related musics” category. What first attracted
my attention was the presence of the UK blues and soul singer
Emma Wilson - she sings two wonderfully mellow, sultry and
slightly jazzy numbers, the Tedeschi - Trucks item ‘Midnight
In Harlem’, and Randy Crawford’s ‘Rio De Janeiro Blue’, and
does so wonderfully.

I was already impressed though with the CD opener, a very
fine version of The Band’s classic ‘The Weight’, a great song
that sounds amazing when sung well. Try to hear the Staples
Singers version on “The Last Waltz”; this version may not be
quite up to that standard, unsurprisingly, but yes, it is indeed well-sung.

Elsewhere the songs flit around 70s rock, Americana and jazzy soul, and the many guests
involved, from both Europe and the USA, reflect this eclectic approach. Many songs feature fine
blues and blues-rock flavoured guitar, so the set is certainly interesting and listenable - but it
does require a much wider taste than simply the blues!

Norman Darwen

(www.facebook.com/MilwaukeeAndFriends)

Black Cat Bones—Troublemaker—independent

Let’s clear things up, particularly maybe for older readers -
this is not the late 60s band that contained two later members
of Free. Neither is it any of the other six bands of this name
listed on “Last FM”. No, this five-piece was formed in 2004 and
as the sleeve states (perhaps necessarily!) is out of Tucson,
Arizona.

Like those groups listed though, this outfit plays blues-rock -
there are several guitarists involved on this album (and there
is some top-notch guitar sparring), so I can’t tell you who is
playing the early Cream-era Clapton styled guitar on the title
track, but whoever it is, they have the tone and style down to a ‘T’. To confuse things again,
maybe, I’d have sworn the drumming on ‘Act Like You Don’t Care’ is Simon Kirke of Free, and
the guitar work sounds influenced by Paul Kossoff of the same band.

I must add though that this band do all their own material, and founder member and chief
songwriter Charles Pitts has a very fine blues-rock voice. Listen to him on the despairing slow
blues of ‘Yesterday’s Gone’, or over the infectious groove of ‘Playing Games With Words’ for just