Mississippi Son

ミシシッピ・デルタ直系のブルーズ!枯れまくりで最高な新作!
十代からメンフィスやシカゴで黒人たちに混じって腕を磨いたチャーリー・マッスルホワイト!ポール・バターフィールドと共に白人ブルースハーピストの巨頭と知られるチャーリーの名門アリゲーター発2022年作!これが実に良い!!!本人のギター(ギターも弾く!)の弾き語りでハープ、リズム隊が入るシンプルな編成で、音数少な目で苦味走った低音ヴォイス、まさにライトニン・ホプキンスやジョン・リー・フッカー的ディープな世界をモノにしているではないか!ロックかブルーズがわからん厚化粧はナシ!こじんまりとしたセッティングでマイクを楽器に接近させて拾った生々しい音質がたまらん!弦のこすれる音、ハープのつばき、スネアのスナッピーの震えをリアルにキャッチ!ブルーズはこれで良し!2022年作とは思えなくて最高! (C)新宿店:村越 辰哉

With 2010s The Well, Charlie Musselwhite returned to Chicagos Alligator Records after a 14-year absence to release what was then his most autobiographical album to date. For over a decade he issued homegrown projects on his Henrietta label, including 2012s Juke Joint Chapel and two dates with Ben Harper (2012s Grammy-winning Get Up and 2018s No Mercy in This Land). He cut the Grammy-nominated 100 Years of the Blues with Elvin Bishop. All these records travel a labyrinthine path to Mississippi Son. Recorded in Clarksdale, Mississippi -- he was born in Kosciusko, and moved to Clarksdale after decades elsewhere -- it features eight originals and six covers offering a portrait of life as a bluesman. He leads a trio with drummer Ricky Martin and upright bassist Barry Bays on several tunes, while the rest is performed solo. Musselwhite plays harmonica and sings, but for the first time since 2006s Delta Hardware, he plays guitar throughout. Co-produced by Gary Vincent and wife Henri Musselwhite, Mississippi Son is humid and swampy, it rolls rather than rocks. Musselwhites guitar-playing style is reflected beautifully in opener "Blues Up the River" -- loose, slippery, and subtle. Things get a bit woolier on a reading of Yank Rachells "Hobo Blues." Musselwhite reflects John Lee Hookers immortal version with a simmering, sinister, groove. "In Your Darkest Hour" is a paean of personal redemption via the power of love, offered solo to an individual during a time of difficulty. He lightens the mood for "Stingaree," another solo track. His road-weary baritone flows atop harmonica and guitar lines, expressing his devotion to the beloved: "She might not sting for you/but shes always buzzin me...." On the solo instrumental "Remembering Big Joe," Musselwhite plays the guitar of his late friend, Big Joe Williams, and renders two sides of the Delta blues in his choogling read of Charley Pattons "Pea Vine Blues" with the band, and a sensual version of Hookers immortal "Crawling King Snake." Musselwhite is a canny songwriter, able to relate his entire autobiography in a two-minute, shuffling, electric country blues. The band grooves under one of the most poignant lines in this history of blues poetry: "Blues tells the truth in a world thats full of lies...." He counters with the shadow side of that identity on the harrowing "My Road Lies in Darkness," and pulls out a slide for a deep blue read of the Stanley Brothers high lonesome folk song "Rank Strangers." Closer "A Voice Foretold" is a haunting blues spiritual written by playwright/lyricist Lee Breuer and pianist/composer Bob Telson for their play The Gospel at Colonus. Its a prophetic look into the face of death and doesnt flinch. In his laconic Southern drawl, Musselwhite sings with acceptance, placing his hope in a loving, merciful God. The bookend to the journey he began with Delta Hardware, Mississippi Son is an unromanticized testament to living the blues and sounds like it came from the soil. As such, its a late-period masterpiece. ~ Thom Jurek