Page 51 - BiTS_05_MAY_2022

Ian Siegal—Stone By Stone—Grow Vision

Despite what is really a thriving blues scene (pandemic aside)

in the UK, we have very few internationally recognised
artists. One major exception to that statement is Ian Siegal.

Ian is a British Blues super-star, but strangely this new album
is not blues (it says just that on Mr Siegal’s website) but it is
sans doubt blues infused as the current vernacular has it .

Here we have here eleven tracks of outstanding quality, all
delivered in Ian’s inimitable style.

‘Working On a Building’ is a mid-pace song reminding me a
bit of KC Douglas’ ‘Mercury Blues’ with a chorus. The track — a gospel piece, featuring Jimmy
Wood (vocals & harp) and JJ Holiday (guitar)—comes complete with hand clapping!

‘The Fear’ a stripped down - almost country-music song about a man reflecting on his life and
post-drinking fear of relapse, is classic Siegal beautifully sung. It’s heart wrenching.

The best song on the album—‘I’m The Shit’—is Siegal having a mess (pun) of fun and is
unfortunately unplayable on most radio stations in the UK—damn the Ofcom regulations.
Check it out online, you are unlikely to hear it on t’radio.

K.K’s Blues is nothing of the sort and has a kind of Dylanesque feel to it, with a Woody Guthrie
picked guitar underlying the thought provoking lyrics.

The whole album is an amusing, beguiling delight! Outstanding stuff from an outstanding

artist.

Ian K McKenzie

PS: The cover art is from Brian Kramer, ‘nuff said.

Charley Musselwhite—Mississippi Son—Alligator

Charley Musselwhite is the doyen of blues harp players. He

has rarely, if ever, made a duff record and here, with an
opportunity to do his own thing, he decides to go short on
harp and long on guitar.

Charley is a down-home guitar man. An authentic,
idiosyncratic player, drawing on the very best of early 20th

Century acoustic rural blues from his home ‘magnolia state’.
To be sure there is some outstanding harmonica work here
(over dubbed I think as there is no drop-off in guitar work
when the harp comes in) but the album is really designed to
show off his picking skills.

There are fourteen songs, including eight emotionally stunning originals. Musselwhite’s soulful

vocals and outstanding harmonica playing are perfectly balanced with the hypnotic guitar
work featured on every track.