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The reason for that last named award is made quite obvious on listening to this release. There is the muscular, spikey
blues-rock of the opening ‘Deaf And Blind’ and the slide-driven ‘The River’ to the much quieter ’Guide Me Home’
(a slight touch of country-soul here?) and the slow-building southern rock of ‘I Won’t Complain’, whilst ‘Please
Watch My Bag’ is a churning blues. The closing track, ‘I Wish I Could Go Running’ is a pretty straight-forward,
gritty Chicago blues styled shuffle and makes for a very fine finale.

The whole album is extremely impressive. I look forward to hearing more from this outfit but this will certainly do
for now.
Norman Darwen

(www.harlemlake.com)

Marcus Flynn—Aint Nothin but the Blues Again - Thoroughbred
(Single)

A new name to me but this guitarist and singer has played with some of the
biggest names in the contemporary music world, as well as plenty of
television work. Here he has teamed up with promoter/songwriter/ all around
good guy Pete Feenstra to pen a fine modern blues. Running to just short of
four and a half minutes, this is mid-tempo and offers the listener a moody,
layered backing; it features Marcus’ confident and just slightly mellow
vocals plus some excellent modern electric guitar playing that builds nicely
as the song progresses. Certainly it will be interesting to see (and hear) what
Marcus comes up with next –and he has an album due in March…

Norman Darwen
(www.marcusflynn.com)

Misty Blues—One Louder—Lunaria Luna-0010

Fronted by the excellent, commanding, and distinctive vocals of Gina Cole-
man (also chief songwriter and cigar-box guitar player), Misty Blues is based
in Massachusetts. The band is prolific—this is their eleventh album since they
were formed in 1999. However, One Louder is their first for UK based label
Lunaria, and although Misty Blues’ releases are remarkably consistent, this
takes things up another notch.

It’s not just the presence of Joe Louis Walker gracing ‘Take A Long Ride’
either, though that is a marker for the esteem the band enjoys. Acclaimed
guitarist Justin Johnson supplies some very impressive slide playing on
‘Freight Car’ and vocalist Big Llou Johnson adds a lot to the tough no-
nonsense Chicago styled blues of ‘How The Blues Feels’.

The six band members themselves (plus others as required) excel whether tackling funk, soul, and gospel-tinged blues
— try ‘Leave My Home’ - or just the blues pure and simple. There’s some excellent work by the horns — take a listen
to Aaron Dean’s sax break on the opening, ever so slightly country inflected ‘A Long Hard Way’ for an immediate
confirmation of that statement. Next up is the funk-blues flavour of the aforementioned ‘Freight Car’. Then there’s the
New Orleans feel of ‘Seal Of Fate’…

All eleven tracks are strong, original songs (no thinly-disguised retreads here!), all well worth a listen. Do check this
band out for yourself—you’ll be hearing a lot more of them.

Norman Darwen
(www.lunariarecords.com)