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Blind Raccoon and NOLA Blue Collection Volume Four—Blue Heart
Records BHR 009

This is the fourth collaboration between Blind Raccoon
Promotions and the record labels Nola Blue Records and Blue
Heart Records. This collection of music from the 34 artists of

Blind Raccoon clients and Nola Blue and Blue Heart records can
be accessed as a digital download and streaming via Bandcamp:
https://nolablue.bandcamp.com/album/blind-raccoon-nola-blue-
collection-vol-4 the profits garnered from digital sales will go to

MusiCares. The thirty four numbers here include a live recording
and nine singles, one of them previously unreleased. The rest of the collection are album tracks
from between 2017 and 2022. One track in particular is from a very famous comedy actor of the

20th century.

The collection opens with a splendid harmonica and slide guitar driven roller from Mark Cameron

entitled ‘Sorry’. Sticking with a good slide is Blind Lemon Pledge with his old fashioned train-like
slow blues harmonica and resonator on ‘Black-eyed Susie’. ‘If Your Phone Don’t Ring’, is a very nice
brooding guitar, harmonica and horn infused slow blues from Trudy Lynn who splendidly delivers

an emotionally menacing vocal. The very mellow sound of The Love light Orchestra is highlighted
by the languid brass driven New Orleans ballad ‘After All’, a very pleasant toe-tapping change of
pace is introduced with the unreleased Northern Soul mover ‘Accepting Applications’, from Matt
Lomeo.

The dramatic and powerful guitar-led ballad ‘Firebreather', from Skylar Rogers certainly gets the
adrenaline flowing. While a more relaxing mood is delivered from Trevor B. Power with an

enticingly grooving harmonica on ‘Get Well Johnny.’ David Gogo splendidly meshes ‘honky tonk’
piano and a jaunty blues resonator guitar on ‘Never Gonna Change’ while Donna Herula’s precise
guitar picking and sweetly crisp vocals delight on ‘Bang On The Door', which is underpinned by an
alluring bass line. Kenny Parker’s single ‘She Might Meet Me', is another delightfully appealing

crisply picked acoustic blues.

The surprising (and good) number here is the foot tapping, swinging big band Jazz inflected ‘Is You

Is Or Is You Ain’t My Baby', from Dick Van Dyke, (ED: - My favourite track) who recorded the
number in 2017 at the age of 91, (he is now 96) when his love of old blues led him to producer Bill
Bixier, who produced Dick’s 2017 album,

On ‘Step Back In Time’ newcomer Adam Schultz, creates a very fine seventies low key funker with
‘Cure For The Blues', while Clarence Spady, delivers a cool and mellow vocal. ‘Party In The Room

Next Door', is a joyously jumping piano led boogie woogie from David Vest, recorded live in Calgary
in 2021. The splendid ‘Do The Rufus', from Johnny Tucker is a very tight, enticing guitar and horn

led funker that certainly leads you to the dance floor. There are two enjoyable no nonsense ‘heads
down' boogies: firstly, ‘Ruthless Boogie', from David Lumsden and then ‘Rent', from The Mary Jo