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membering Big Joe’ is a guitar instrumental apparently played on one of Big Joe Williams’s old
guitars.

‘The Dark’ is a spoken word cover of the Guy Clark tune but does not quite have the magic of
the original. There is a ‘I’m A King Bee’ vibe to the Bobby Bland cover ‘Drifting From Town To
Town’ which is quite reminiscent of John Hammond. The album closes with a short blues la-
ment ‘A Voice Foretold’.

Most of the songs here are simple familiar blues style tunes with some occasional backing
from Ricky ‘Quicksand’ Martin on drums and Barry Bays on double bass. The album has a light
touch of production giving it that front porch blues feel.

Charlie’s guitar style is reminiscent of John Lee Hooker and works quite well. His harmonica
playing is exemplary as you would expect. Where the album does fall down is Charlie’s vocals.
His vocal delivery is too light and lacks conviction and despite having that great Deep South
drawl still doesn’t seem to quite cut it. If you are a fan you are going to add this album to
your collection but for me I much prefer his collaboration work elsewhere such as the great

album ‘No Mercy In This Land’ with Ben Harper.

Ged Wilson

Half Deaf Clatch—A Tribute To Bukka White—Speak Up
Recordings

Andrew McClatchie AKA Half Deaf Clatch needs no introduc-
tion to the world of solo acoustic blues, he’s had more UK
Blues award nominations than you can shake a stick at. This
four track EP is, as the name suggests, a tribute to blues leg-
end Bukka White.

The opening track is ‘Aberdeen Mississippi Blues’ which
chugs along nicely with some lovely tasteful slide guitar. An-
drew really digs into a great twelve bar groove with ‘When
Can I Change My Clothes’ (great song title!), I really liked this one. With ‘Fixin’ To Die’ he con-
jures a great rendition of this Bukka classic and really does it justice. The album closes in fine
style with ‘Sic Em Dogs On’ (another great title!).

Andrew has honed his craft both in terms of performance and recording and those hard years
have given him a platform to produce great music. He has a simple stripped back approach
which presents the emotional growl of vocals and exquisite sound of his guitar that together
gives you the essence of the song so you feel connected.

This is a great EP and well worth a listen and I’m sure Bukka himself would enjoy it too!

Ged Wilson