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reminded me of Half Deaf Clatch. The title track ‘Road Worn’ features some lovely

rich Hammond organ sounds.

‘The Hokum Hotdog’ is an up tempo foot tapper with some boogie woogie piano.
‘The Road To Hell’ is a Chris Rea cover which starts off slow then speeds up half way

through. ‘I Shall Not Walk Alone’ is a nice rendition of the Ben Harper gospel blues
song before the album closes with the Bo Carter tune, ‘I’m An Old Bumble Bee’ that

is layered over the sound of a 1950’s tractor engine I kid you not!

Bottleneck John has a nice and gentle soulful voice that suits his accomplished blues
guitar style of playing. The fourteen tracks on this album are enhanced with the

addition of various musicians playing an array of instruments. I particularly en-
joyed the piano playing of Mattias Nordqvist which sounds top class.

The only downside to this album I find is that at times it comes across more of a jam

session rather than a finely produced album. Maybe working with a producer would
help in the future but don’t let that detract too much from this great assortment of
blues styles.

Ged Wilson

Cat Wells Blues Band—Brand New Shoes—In-
dependent Release

Cat Wells is a blues artist, vocalist and songwriter

from Canada. She has toured Canada and the USA
with her blues band supporting the likes of Jeff

Healey and ZZ Top along the way. “Brand New
Shoes” is her latest 5 track EP release.

The EP opens with ‘Blues Muse’ a nice upbeat
jazzy blues number. Next up is a great version of
the Ida Cox song, ‘Wild Women (Never Get The

Blues)’ a slow blues somewhat similar in style to ‘Stormy Monday’ featuring some
great guitar work from Jason Buie.

The title track ‘Brand New Shoes’ has more of a jump blues flavour with some great
saxophone sounds from Johnny Ferreira. ‘Everything I Had Is Gone’ is a slow minor

blues and Cat shares the vocals with the late Sonny Rhodes. The EP closes with ‘Feel
Like Dyin’ a great upbeat funky blues number which features a harmonica solo from
Cat in there too.

OK, Cat Wells may not be the finest harmonica player you are going to hear but she
sure is a great singer. She has a powerful vocal style full of character sort of a female
Johnny Adams if you will. She has assembled a fine band of musicians that are tight

and deliver the perfect foil for her to go on and really excel and express herself. The