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Lil’ Red & the Rooster—Keep On!—Blue Heart ASIN :
B0BCDB6SCL

Lil’ Red & the Rooster are Westerfield, Ohio native Jennifer “Lil’
Red” Milligan on vocals and washboard and French guitarist Pascal
Fouquet and they recorded this album in the JoyRide Studios,
Chicago with a band of Felton Crews (bass) and Kenny ‘Beedy
Eyes’ Smith (drums), with Jean-Marc Labbe (sax) also appearing
on several tracks. He features on the first two tracks ‘Cool Trap
Boogie’ and ‘Whiskey Sip of Time’ giving them a real jazzy feel,
which is also reflected in Lil’ Red’s vocals and Pascal’s guitar which cleverly mixes jazz and blues.
On ‘Keep On Lovin’ You’ Billy Branch drops by to add his vocals and harmonica for a nice relaxed
blues that reminded me of Sonny and Brownie’s ‘Walk On’, while ‘Love The Hell Right Out Of Ya’
ups the pace for a swinging jump blues and ‘Shakin’ Em Up’ is a surf rock instrumental with Pascal
hitting the whammy bar and Jean-Marc in Boots Randolph mode.

There is more variety with ‘Bootstraps Break‘ - a Latin-flavoured blues which recounts the racism
that is still prevalent in America and ‘Nobody's Fault but Mine’ is an up-tempo take on this
traditional blues by Blind Willie Johnson. There is more musing on social justice on ‘Back of the
Bus’ which relates the story of Rosa Parks and also on the funky ‘American Made’, with ‘Little
Girl’ keeping the funk going with a ‘girl power’ anthem and we close with ‘Step It Up’ an up-tempo
instrumental groove featuring Pascal again mixing jazz and blues and sounding like Dave Spector
(who produced their last album). This is an interesting album that has a unique sound with the
two principals seamlessly mixing jazz and blues but with the rhythm section and Jean-Marc Labbe
on sax also doing their part in making this such a success.

Graham Harrison

Ben Levin—Take Your Time—VizzTone ASIN : B0B8YLVK66

The award-winning 23-year old Cincinnati-based pianist/singer
Ben Levin has previously recorded with a band led by his father
Aron but this new album sees him teaming up with denizens of
the blues scene, these include 92-year-old bassist/ vocalist Bob
Stroger, Chicago blues legend Lil’ Ed and Louisiana bluesman Lil’
Jimmy Reed, as well as Johnny Burgin and Noah Wotherspoon.
I’ve previously noted that Ben’s vocals have really improved since
his first album—check out his strong singing on the title track, so
I was a bit disappointed that Ben has left the majority of the vocals
here to his guests but this does give these tracks an extra authenticity. On ‘Jazz Man Blues’ —
“Jazz ain’t nothing but a blues man blowing his horn” — Bob Stroger seems to be struggling with
the vocals and ‘Why Do Things Happen to Me’ is a slow blues featuring Lil’ Ed, while the rocking
‘I’ve Been Drinking Muddy Water’ has Lil’ Jimmy out front.

‘Hole in the Wall’ has Ben sharing the vocals with Lil’ Ed who also adds his slide guitar and on
‘Out of Your Own Way’ Ben again takes on the vocals. Bob Stroger does better with his remaining
songs, ‘Bad Boy’ and ‘Love You Baby’ are mid-tempo blues and ‘Stroger Strut’ is the closing

instrumental. Lil’ Jimmy takes on ‘You Know You’re So Fine’ and the nice strangely-named slow
blues ‘Lump of Coal’, while Lil’ Ed has the album’s single ‘Longer Hours, Shorter Pay’. It’s great
that Ben has enlisted the services of these blues veterans but for me his playing is the standout