Genre: Blues
Styles: Acoustic/Electric delta blues, Juke joint blues
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 320
Time: 42:28
Size: 97.2 MB
Colorado’s John-Alex Mason specializes in a fuzz-friendly brand of
swamp-boogie blues. It’s infectiously energetic, which very nearly
compensates for his not-terribly-strong vocals. On songs like "My Old
Lonesome Home” and "Rolled and Tumbled”, Mason’s scratch-tastic licks
carve out a sonic landscape that is both comfortably familiar and
refreshingly new.
So far, so good, so safe. What elevates this album far above the
ordinary run of blues-guitar offerings are the many incidental
flourishes that Mason grafts onto the basic blues template. "Come So
Long” and "Riding On” both feature short, pithy raps from Cody Burnside
(grandson of blues legend RL Burnside), which against all odds mesh
seamlessly with the tunes. African instruments like djembe and balafone
percolate throughout several tracks, adding layers of percussive
interest, notably in "Riding On” and "Free”. With these global sounds
added to the country accents of harmonica, mandolin and fiddle, the
sonic palette grows richer song by song. Recommended. ~David Maine
[3:27] 1. My Old Lonesome Home
[3:32] 2. Gone So Long (Feat. Cody Burnside)
[3:52] 3. More Than Wind
[4:59] 4. Riding On (Feat. Cody Burnside)
[5:13] 5. Rolled And Tumbled
[4:15] 6. Diamond Rain
[4:54] 7. Signifyin' Monkey
[4:07] 8. Free
[4:24] 9. Write Me A Few Of Your Lines
[3:40] 10. Whisper
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