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how good Todd can be for an overall blues experience , but really you can pick any
song of the eleven on offer here at random and be guaranteed satisfying listening.

Norman Darwen

(www.toddalbright.com)

EDITOR’S NOTE: There will be an interview with Todd Albright in next month’s
BiTS.

Muddy What?—Neon Soul—Howlin’ Who? Records

The title track is a fine modern blues with rock tinges
in the slightly Hendrix-tinged guitar work, with

Hendrix’s inspiration even more obvious with a
muscular, driving cover of ‘Voodoo Child’ (sic). ‘The
Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll’ is a soul-inflected

workout of the Bob Dylan composition about the killing
of a Black hotel worker and the meagre sentence given
to the rich white perpetrator; the set’s other Dylan song

is ‘Blind Willie McTell’, a pretty popular number among
blues performers, and here given a deep, slightly spooky feel.

This four-piece band, from Munich in southern Germany, define themselves as

playing “new blues” though they are most certainly within the blues-rock tradition.
They write noteworthy songs themselves too, quite moody and thoughtful at times
and with plenty of blues influence even on a more ballad-like number such as ‘Lost

Symphony’. Then again, ‘Uncontainable’ is a fine, funky, hip soul number, whilst the
closing ‘Ina’s Lullaby’ is aptly titled, a lovely quiet end to this excellent release.

Fabian Spang’s distinctive voice is affecting and effective throughout the set’s nine

tracks, whilst sister Ina Spang’s lead guitar work (and her lovely mandolin playing)
is spot-on without ever losing sight of the songs themselves. Impressive!

Norman Darwen

(www.muddywhat.de)

Johanna Red—Good Girl or Bad Girl—Independent

This is the second album from Johanna, the follow-up
to her well-received 2024 release “Stronger Than You

Thought”. She is from the east of France, a powerful
singer who lists such influences as Koko Taylor, Beth

Hart, Otis Redding, Etta James, and Led Zeppelin. Some
of this set is unapologetically blues-rocking, and the

word “sassy” might have been coined for some of the

vocals here. Try the opener, ‘Velvet Bite’, but note that