No Regrets

Albert Cummings was well on his way to becoming a hot bluegrass banjo player when he discovered the music of Stevie Ray Vaughan in his late teens and made the switch to electric guitar, and while it's tempting to consider him a Vaughan acolyte, particularly since he's played with the rhythm section of Vaughan's band Double Trouble and he gets the same graceful, tough, and elegant tone out of his Strat that made Vaughan a blues guitar icon, it isn't exactly the case. Yeah, Cummings plays the blues, and he does it pretty darn well, but he also has a little bit of country in him and his songs celebrate the working stiff trying to stretch his paycheck far enough to cover a few Friday night beers. No Regrets is Cummings' fifth album, and his most varied yet, with some blues numbers, yes, including a cover of Muddy Waters' "Mannish Boy," but also featuring pure country ballads like "She's So Tired," the Southern rock-like "Checkered Flag," and a straight-out rocking Friday night anthem, "Drink Party and Dance," all of which prove that Cummings, who has always insisted he was a bluesman and always will be, has a lot more than just the blues up his sleeve. ~ Steve Leggett