has developed into a consummate bluesman. He's listened hard to classic and based his style on it, without ever becoming a carbon copy of the greats. Instead they're his jumping-off point into something as individual as where didgeridoo makes an appearance, or the poignant Equally adept on guitar, banjo, and harmonica, he's become a force of nature, with the ability to write a song like that sounds as if it had come directly from the '30s, alongside covers of , , and . The originals and older work mesh perfectly, the sign of a real bluesman. And, of course, he's capable of working the other side of the coin to , in , as the closer, clearly shows. This is the tradition reborn and revitalized. ' support is wonderfully sympathetic, but he's completely at the center of things, the motivator and mover of this music, and a purveyor of the real . His lineage is obvious, and he's the new generation, doing it right and keeping it real. ~ Chris Nickson