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The guitar playing is magnificent, you will find shades of 1950’s guitar tone, Duane Eddy and Brian

Setzer in there. James has a way with playful lyrics too and I like the fact that he does not take
himself too seriously but he still plays very seriously—if you get my drift.

I love this music and I’m keen to see where James Oliver takes us next but one thing is for sure he
is putting Wales on the blues map.

Ged Wilson

Paul Cowley—Long Time Coming—Independent

Paul Cowley is an outstanding British musician now living in

France. His last album “That’s What I Know” received some
excellent reviews and although over the last eighteen months,
Paul has suffered from the effects of the pandemic in getting to
deliver public performances he wisely he spent some time in his
home studio making this album, which is an impressive display
of his talent. Here we have twelve tracks (one repeated)
ranging from covers of Blind Willie McTell’s ‘Love Changing
Blues’, through Charley Patton’s ‘Screamin’ and Hollerin’ The
Blues’, to the storied Ray Charles, 1949, penned ‘Confessing

Blues’. As if that’s not enough, there is also a touch of
Mississippi John Hurt (‘Louis Collins’) and Blind Boy Fuller (‘Lost Lover Blues’). All are beautifully
played and sung.

The remainder of the tracks are Cowley originals including the title track opener (and revisited
closer) ‘Long Time Coming’ which because of the contrasting arrangements are like two different
songs. Both are beautifully and sensitively played. My favourite is sans doubt, the tour de force
that is ‘Lightnin’s Train’, one of the tracks, if my ears don’t deceive me, with a bit of overdubbed
slide work. It is simply stunning! Get this one ASAP.

Ian K McKenzie

Sugar Mill Slim—Sugar Mill Slim —Independent
(www.facebook.com/sugarmillslim.com)

Now garnering acclaim from the Los Angeles, California blues
community, Sugar Mill Slim is a singer and harmonica player
who has performed with artists such as the veteran Barry
Goldberg and bandleader Jimmy Vivino, as well as being a

regular at jam sessions. He’s not your regular bluesman though.

Slim describes his music as “Chicago filth blues” and himself as a
“glam bluesman”, and his lyrics are most certainly not the
standard “male – female” concerns. Slim is actually a stage
persona of drummer and keyboards player Anders La Source,
who did not feel confident enough in that role to front a band. As Sugar Mill Slim, he is “stealing

the music back from the sports bars and BBQs”.

As you might have guessed, he plays the blues with attitude. His repertoire draws from the classic
Chicago blues sound, specifically the sound of the late 50s and early 60s. Included here are
versions of Little Walter’s jumping ‘Me And Piney Brown’ and Sonny Boy Williamson (No. 2)’s