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Sean Taylor has built up a great back catalogue of albums and I’m sure you will be trawling
through them once you have heard this latest offering, please give it a spin.

Ged Wilson

Trevor Babajack Duo—Bootleg Blues—Independent Re-
lease

Trevor Babajack Steger is a real crowd favourite on the British
blues scene and this has now been endorsed by him winning the
UK Blues Federation 2023 award for best acoustic act no less!
Trevor is paired up with Jesse Benns in a duo format for this live
album.

The album opens with ‘Sawdust Man’ which has that Deep
South blues vibe about it that will have you tapping your foot.
‘River Song’ has a rootsy edge to it which brought to mind Kelly Joe Phelps. The duo create a

great world music feel on ‘The Solemn Truth And Barefaced Lies’ which Trevor can wrap his
lyrics around, I think he loves singing this one!

‘Red Dress’ is nice and chilled whilst ‘Ambler Gambler’ is a fun song with a great harmonica
blast. ‘Deep River Blues’ is one of those songs that’s a haunting tale and will suck you in. ‘Went
Out Walking’ is a good old solo harmonica vamp which brought to mind the style of Son of
Dave. The album closes in style with a climactic rendition of the Sleepy John Estes tune,

‘Brownsville’.

This album was recorded live at the Temperance Bar in Leamington Spa and it’s good to hear
Trevor talking about his songs and the audience reaction which helps to create a good ambi-
ence for the album. As this is a live album it is good that they have managed to capture the
energy and enthusiasm of the duo that clearly comes across.

Jesse Benns’ contribution on cajon cannot be underestimated as the rhythms he creates just

blend into the songs so well. Trevor has a gruff blues voice which suits the music but he still
has a well defined vocal diction so that you can hear and follow his lyrics. He has a great ability
to create bluesy guitar grooves with subtle tasty slide licks and does not overplay but his
harmonica playing has certainly gone up a notch and he is right up there and is a good a rack
harp player as you could find.

If you are not familiar with Trevor’s work then this is a good place to start and will certainly

encourage you to get along to one of his gigs soon. It’s no surprise to see that Trevor won the
best acoustic act award as he goes from strength to strength, great album.

Ged Wilson