Two filling servings of the blues…
Shades of Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee are brought up with this fun and relaxed teaming of harpist Grant Dermody and guitarist/vocalist Frank Fotusky. The folksy sounds work well, with Fotusky showing his Delta pickings on the Rev Gary Davis “Death Don’t Have No Mercy” and Skip James’ “Hard Time Killing Floor Bees”. Dermody blows a warm breeze on “Hey Hey Daddy Blues” and “You Better Lie Down” and the two jam tight for “Peach Tree Blues”. Fotusky has a early Leon Redbone sound when singing and picking as on “Alberta” and “Police Dog Blues”. Unpretentious and unashamed.
Mike Nagoda plays acoustic and electric slide guitars as well as some Hammond organ with his team of Peter Johnston/g, Anthony D’Allessandro/b, D’Arcy Cain/b, Jeremy Ronson/dr-perc and some cameo guests. He’s got a voice reminiscent of Frank Zappa, kind of on the wry side, and his blues range from a deep Chicago wail on “Busker’s Blues” to some new wave/punky feel on “He’s My Man.” There’s some 70s Aerosmith feel as the guitars slide on “Outside The Box” while some folk roots show on “O Maximus”. A trip to New Orleans is taken on “Crumble and Fall” with a nice calypso for “Conquistador”. A box of many sides.