This is Grant Dermody’s 5th solo LP. Basically, a Louisiana blues collection with splashes of zydeco, Mississippi-Chicago-blues & gospel. It’s recorded pristinely & accessible even to people who are not blues aficionados. The musicians are all Louisiana-based & they deliciously articulate each performance without compromising the raw contours, edgy spirited roots of the genre. It isn’t juke joint bruised, primitive, or overly dramatic.
The late Paul Butterfield would’ve approved. Grant Dermody’s harmonica resonates in his fashion. At the same time, despite how good the artists in England interpret the blues, they don’t absorb the “land” atmosphere & mood in the dirt. That’s what’s lacking. Most foreign blues interpreters succeed with their own degree of comfort but not with the accentuation of the “land” – John Mayall, Graham Bond, Long John Baldry, Duster Bennett types & the California entity like Al Wilson’s Canned Heat. All credible as blues entertainers — but not ideal as Muddy Waters, B.B. King, or even Paul Butterfield.
READ MORE