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acoustic with Reddick's gorgeous harmonica. AJ is very much his own man, he's obviously
influenced by roots music but doesn't really sound like anyone else and this is a really good
sounding album with great playing throughout and the slide guitar, piano and harmonica give it a
real bluesy feel - combined with AJ's excellent vocals.
Graham Harrison
Damon Fowler—Alafia Moon—Landslide Records ASIN :
B08TFFNCH7
Blues/roots rocker Damon Fowler hails from Florida’s Gulf
Coast, also home to blues slide guitar master Tampa Red, and
like Tampa Red Damon is a fine slide guitarist and also a good
singer with a distinctive southern drawl. This album features
him with a band comprising Chuck Riley (bass), Justin Headley
(drums), Mike Kach (keyboards), T.C. Carr (harmonica) and
Betty Fox (backing vocals). The album was co-produced by
Fowler and George Harris and features ten original songs and
one cover. We start with two mid-tempo swampy-sounding
tracks 'Leave It Alone' featuring Carr's harp and 'I’ve Been Low'
with Damon's slide guitar, then the title track slows things down with Damon's vocals being really
soulful on this blues ballad.
The album's cover song is 'The Guitar' by Guy Clark and Verlon Thompson which tells the
intriguing story of finding a guitar in a pawn shop (watch out for the surprise ending) and features
some nice acoustic guitar picking. 'Hip To Your Trip' is a blues written by Damon and fellow slide
player Jim Suhler and has some great slide guitar, while 'Some Things Change' is a powerful song
with T.C. Carr back on the harp and 'Taxman' (not the Beatles' song) is a slow blues guitar
workout. 'Wanda' is a fun, funky song about a local character, while 'The Umbrella' is a mainly
spoken track which sounds like it was recorded live (hence Josh Nelms’ credit - "bottles and
background noise") and we finish with 'Kicked His Ass Out' a jazzy fun song - the consequence of
the previous track. I've really liked many of Damon's earlier albums and while he is still a very
good guitarist and singer felt that this album lacked a few really killer songs - possibly the result of
lockdown regulations.
Graham Harrison
New Moon—Jelly Roll Freedom Rockers Volume 2—Stony
Plain ASIN : B08RRDTDGZ
This is the second volume of a session recorded at Jim
Dickinson's Zebra Ranch Recording Studio in Coldwater,
Mississippi in 2007 with Jim and his sons Luther and Cody,
harp legend Charlie Musselwhite, blues guitarist Alvin
Youngblood Hart and Jimbo Mathus (bass & vocals). The first
edition was issued last year and both volumes are a fitting
tribute to Jim Dickinson who died in 2008. I must admit I did
wonder if these were going to be the sub-standard leftovers
from the first volume but from the first track 'Blues for
Yesterday' (featuring Charlie Musselwhite) I thought the