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Chris Martin—From Absence to Presence—Now Then Re-
cords

Chris Martin is well known on the British blues circuit, particu-
larly in the north of England as the “Man in the Hat”, renowned
for his live performances that entertain and make you smile.
Despite having to overcome serious health issues he has man-

aged to come out the other side and release this new album.

The album opens with ‘Absence’ a gentle soothing instrumental.
‘When I Feel Your Name On My Lips’ has a nice Americana vibe
about it with some sweet backing vocals from Lisa Marie Glover underpinning Chris’s well
suited, well seasoned voice, I really liked this one. ‘Appraising Grace’ unsurprisingly references
‘Amazing Grace’, an instrumental with a touch of Ry Cooder about it. The classic ‘How Can A
Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live’ carries a poignant message so relevant in these current
times. ‘Rolling In My Sweet Baby’s Arms’ is a great upbeat version of this old classic.

There’s some gutsy Delta blues style slide to be had on the old Tampa Red classic ‘’It Hurts Me
Too’. ‘That’s Awkward’ is uptempo and bouncy whilst ‘Flood Water’ digs a nice groove. There is
some more poignant blues to be had with the Blind Lemon Jefferson classic ‘See That My Grave
Is Kept Clean’ that features some nice harmonica from Alex Eden. ‘Bring Me That Preacher Man’
brought to mind shades of Half Deaf Clatch. ‘Take A Walk In The Wildernesses’ is such a lovely
song and Chris really does this George Ross Watt tune justice. The album closes in the style that
it opened with a gentle soothing instrumental ‘Presence’. There is also a bonus track of the
aforementioned ‘Flood Water’ to be had, this time a full band version.

Chris has developed his style and honed his craft over the years to produce what appears to be
an almost effortless smoothed out slide guitar technique which is so pleasing on the ears. Whilst
his voice may not be his strongest asset it is seasoned and well suited to match these songs. He
definitely has a feel and sound of Chris Smither about him. Chris has put a great album together
here that has been thought through and flows and I encourage you to give it a spin.

Ged Wilson

Sir Oliver Mally Group—Cancellation Blues—Blind Rope Re-
cords

The Sir Oliver Mally Group are a blues band from Austria and are
new to me so I am keen to hear their latest offering, “Cancellation
Blues”.

The album opens with ‘On The Way’ a gentle twelve bar blues.
Their cover version of the Bob Dylan tune ‘Like A Rolling Stone’
has a Dire Straits feel about it. ‘21st Century Blues’ opens with a
nice upright bass riff carrying a spoken word vocal and there is a
great harmonica break from Hubert Hofherr.

The title track ‘Cancellation Blues’ has a gentle blues groove and is enhanced with Ian Siegal

adding some supporting guitar and vocals. The old classic ‘Spooky’ features some lovely electric