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| Certainly This is the Future NorthernBlues is a cool label out of Toronto. Fred Litwin has done a great job of putting together what has become one of the best Blues labels around, and it is not even two years old! BluesWax has covered several of their artists and releases and this sampler is a nice place to start seeing what they are up to up there. The sampler is entitled, The Future of the Blues, and it is a tough label to argue with when you look at the artists represented. The CD starts with Nashville's Johnny Jones pumping out the comical "Stacked in the Back." This is followed by the cool acoustic sound of Harry Manx. Manx fingerpicks his way through the pretty song, "Don't Forget To Miss Me." Later he offers another fine mellow tune, "Lay Down My Worries" from his excellent debut album, Dog My Cat (FolkWax Rating: 8). You can find out more about Manx in our sister publication FolkWax (www.folkwax.com). Yes, this is Folky stuff, but it fits in nicely among some Blues club Blues and some great Roots Blues. Rita Chiarelli tears it up with "Woman In Blue" from her album Breakfast at Midnight (BluesWax Rating: 8). This is followed by a rockin' Boogie from Paul Reddick & The Sidemen on "One Way Trip." Reddick blows a mean harp and the band really lays it down. One of our favorite artists is Otis Taylor. His outstanding Blues Roots music is the standard for the genre. We get a taste from each of his excellent NorthernBlues albums here: "My Soul's in Louisiana" from White African (BluesWax Rating: 8) and "Live Your Life" from Respect The Dead (BluesWax Rating: 7). Archie Edwards is a classic Blues guitarist. Playing an antique steel-pan Gretsch, he plays some of the best classic Piedmont Blues around. Here you find two offerings from his Toronto Sessions, the traditional "Sittin' On Top Of The World," and his own "Baby, Please Give Me A Break." Another great Roots track is David Jacobs-Strain's "River Was Green" from his Stuck On The Way Back album. This is a big cut for a solo guitar and, showing off both his voice and guitar playing, proves why this young man is going to be around for awhile. This is followed by a fun cut, "Computer Club Queen" from Brian Blain. Then we get another highlight, Paul Reddick with Joe Louis Walker slidin' through "The Woman I Love." The album ends up with another young Bluesman, actually two of them, the JW-Jones Blues Band. This great young Blues band features JW-Jones on guitar and Southside Steve on harp. Here we taste the title cut from their Defibrillatin' CD and "Jump Tonight" from Bogart's Bounce. Samplers are always hard to rate, whether they are theme-based or label-based or both. There is not theme here other than fine music from across the Blues menu. You get a taste of most everything offered up by NorthernBlues and it goes down good. If you want to check out what Fred Litwin and company have been cooking up I am sure that you will agree, they are indeed at least one Future of The Blues. By the way, this is a great road trip album. But once you have tasted these samples you might want to dig in deeper. After all, that's what samplers are all about. Do so at northernblues.com. Enjoy! |
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