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From the first note this music grabs you by the ears and will not let go! The opener is the title track
and takes you right into the juke with a mass of shimmying going on; tremendous harp work from
Bill Steber. Next up is ‘I Want You To Know’ from the pen of Bo Carter, followed by a fabulous tribute
to Sam Chatmon, with ‘Ashtray Taxi’, one of my Sam Chatmon faves. The great Charlie Nusselwhite
graces ‘Blue Steel’ with his usual virtuoso skills.

Eric and Ulrika Bibb, who also live in Sweden, take the vocals on ‘That’s Alright’ and do a great job
too. Deivert's song ‘Cuckoo Crowd’, first heard on his 2015 album ‘Blood In My Eyes For You’ features
his wife Eva Deivert on fiddle.

All in all this is an outstanding outing by a bunch of musicians whose souls are joined. Can’t wait for
the next one!

Ian K McKenzie

Paul Cowley Brandéha Own Label

Originally from Birmingham UK, Paul now resides in Morbihan
France. He is a wonderfully accomplished guitar player using a
selection of guitars and other instruments. Paul cites his influences
as the country blues greats of the past and nominates Eric Bibb as

a modern day inspiration. Paul released his fifth album, entitled
Just ‘What I Know’ last year.
Let Paul tell his own story: “I was invited to stage a concert at home
as part of the commune’s annual programme of cultural events. With
the support of the commune, over 70 people turned up to see me
perform in our barn in September 2019. In the audience, Teddy S.
Lubin, a local film maker and one of four partners in a neighbouring bio-farm, ‘Brandéha’, were

discussing a film project in progress, studying the farm, its importance in the community, its farming
methods, philosophy etc. A comment was made that it would be nice if the music for the film could
be locally sourced. The obvious local source was on stage performing!”
This is the result. Seven tracks played and sung by Paul using Gibson J45 / National Triolian / Dobro
/ Banjo / Cajon all played by him. The music is masterful and timeless. Beautifully played and sung

and with high production values courtesy of Pascal Ferrari of Martigné Ferchaud. The opener, ‘The
Cross’ is rather more folky than some of the other tracks, but no less effective for that. That is followed
by the delightful ‘Mimosa’, an instumental and by ‘Nellie May’, an adaptation of an original song by
Paul Cowley. ‘Brass & Steel’ is a Ry Cooderish instrumental, naturally well fitted to a movie sound
track. Next up is ‘Dropped D in E’ a foot tapper, reminding me of a mix of Furry Lewis and Robert
Wilkins. The show closes with the title track ‘Brandéha’, the name of the farm on which the film is
centred. Apparently the translation of the word from French is scrubland, which suggests a good

degree of hard work. Last up is ‘Diesel Boogie’, a banjo fronted piece evoking the string and jug bands
of the American South in the 20’s and 30’s.
All in all this is an outstanding piece of work, Paul should be very proud. Hard copy will be released
later this year, but for the time being this album s downloadable from:
https://paulcowley.bandcamp.com/album/brand-ha

Ian K McKenzie
Interview with Paul in next month’s BiTS