Wide Mouth Mason has Shaun Verreault playing lap steel, guitar and bass, Safwan Javed on drums, Ryan Dable and Darren Parris on bass, Shawn Hall and Kelly Hoppe on harps and just about everyone singing at some point on this rootsy mix of delta and dust. Fuzzy blue strings on “Bodies in Motion” team with gritty voice with some electric boogie riffs on “Some Kind of Requiem” while hints of vintage Link Wray on the ax are conuued on “Only Child” and “Erase Any Trace”. Delta slides on “High Road” and funky beats on “Modern Love” cover all the blues bases on this mix of modern and mud.
Val Starr’s voice mixes sweetness and sass as she plays rhythm guitar along with John Ellis/b-slg, Timothy Brisson/g, Frankie Munz/harp, Paul Farman/dr and guests Todd Morgan/keys, Horacio Socarras/perc and saxists Danny Sandoval and Saxophone Zot on this mix of original and standard bluesbreakers. The rhythm team shuffles to Sandoval’s tenor as Starr sparkles on “Say Goodby to The Blues” and the team gets 80s poppish on “Movin’ On”. Dirt under the nails on the gritty “Lift A Finger” as well as Chuck Berry riffs on the socially conscious “Big Boss Man (#MeToo)” contrast with Ellis’ tasty fingerwork on “Mister Bass Man” as the team takes a trip to Chicago on the blueswailing “If She Can Get A Man (Anyone Can)”. Foot stompin’ fun.