If you want your guitar playing with grease underneath the fingernails, then slide/rhythm guitarist Arlen Roth’s latest disc is your cup of coffee. That down and dirty twang of his bluesy guitar is teamed up with a veritable Who’s Who of the rock, boogie and blues circuit, with guys like Johnny Winter, Jimmy Vivino, David Lindley and a bus load of others delivering a workshop’s worth of material that shows the various ways the slide can be slud.
You got two step boogie with Jack Pearson on guitar and vocals on “Do What’s Right”, just before Lee Roy Parnel shuffles off on Robert Johnson’s “Dust My Broom.” The Delta will call you home with Sonny Landreth sitting in on “Sonny Skies,” and “Rocket 88” is a rockabilly honky tonker with Winter at the helm. Hints of Santos and Johnny twang away as Cindy Cashdollar picks along on “Starnger On The SHoor” and a New Orleanish “Dixie Chicken” has Lee Roy Parnell on gutar and vocal with a hard hitting rhythm section. Lindlye picks and grins on a back porched “Her Mind Is Gon” and the spirit of Johnny Smith is evoked by Rick Vito on “Paradise Blues.” The album closes with the real root of the blues, namely gospel, as a lovely take of “Amazing Grace” will take you to the bone marrow of American music. This one’s a treat!
Aquinnah Records