Album: Blues Blast /  9 tracks: 53:50 /  August 28, 2007/  Telarc

Mind blowing, is the best way to describe blues artist Debbie Davies’ new CD Blues Blast. The album released under the Telarc label provides the listener with a dazzling array of some today’s finest blues musicians, including Debbie Davies (guitar/vocals), Tab Benoit (guitar/vocals), Coco Montoya on guitar, Bruce Katz(B3 organ), Charlie Musselwhite (vocals/harmonica), Rod Carey (bass) and Per Hanson (drums).

I am going to focus my attention on just four of the tracks, “Movin’ & Groovin’”, “Howlin’ For My Darlin’,” “Like You Was Gone,” and “Sonoma Sunset,” but all nine tracks on this CD are well worth listening to. The four I just mentioned account for more than twenty-eight minutes of great music.

If you are a fan of Chicago blues music then you are going to absolutely fall in love with “Moovin’ & Groovin’.” The song is built upon the same rhythms that have propelled bands like The Downchild Blues Band and The Powder Blues Band for decades. Musselwhite who wrote this song, blows some spellbinding notes, gets you moving and snapping your fingers. His vocal performance is incredible. Hanson’s drumming is spectacular.

Davies comments on what made this CD work so well, “With tour schedules being what they are, it’s nearly impossible to get four blues musicians in the same studio at the same time. So making this record was a rare joy, and a highly satisfying experience. All of us, Tab, Coco, Charlie and myself, are students of the old school, and there’s a sense of history that ties us together. We all brought our ‘A game’ and we all game together, we spoke the same language. The exchange of ideas that took place in the making of this record had very little to do with talking and everything to do with music.”

For the Chester Burnett/Willie Dixon “Howlin’ For My Darlin’” Davies unleashes her ‘I’m gonna’ get may man!’ brassy vocals, while trading riffs with Cajun six strings wizard Benoit. This isn’t gumbo; this is the crème de la crème. I have run out of superlatives to describe the guitar licks of Davies’ and in this case Benoit.

Davies visits Don Castagno’s “Like You Was Gone,” with sandpaper in her voice. At times forming a duet with Benoit, and at other times with Benoit simply providing backup vocals, the duo give a great interpretation of this lazy Mississippi Delta tune.

The final jewel on Blues Blast is a song that Davies authored, “Sonoma Sunset.” The ten-minute odyssey is the stuff that spawns legends, and this song will be talked about long after you and I are gone. The three guest musicians, Montoya, Benoit and Musselwhite, trade riffs with Davies. This is a song that you will wish would never end. Just close your eyes and soak up the music, then replay the final track.

It is difficult to conceive that anyone else in the blues genre will top this project in 2007. Let the voting for the Blues Awards begin today! This CD should also be up for a Grammy.

Reviewed August 2007

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