At the time this album was recorded, the particularly intense artist was a protege of the / recording empire, which was actually two guys, and arranger and composer . 's involvement with led, as in many cases of producers and their clients, to co-authorship on some of the songs recorded. regarded as an artist cut from the same cloth as or , and of the same quality -- meaning an intense, mood-setter of a bluesman with a sizzling improvisatory style. They were certainly accurate in their appraisal of his talent, and their interest in recording led to several classic albums. The fine studio sound they got on these solo recordings makes for a superior album, and it was the first would record unencumbered by a combo backing him up. Every nuance of his playing is captured, and he is definitely the type of player who thrives on solo work. He rarely sticks to a formula bar structure and likes to stretch out his licks as if casting out a line for fish, but he isn't a player who just stays on one chord like often did. One of 's original , in which he describes how his wife died of cancer, has got to set some kind of a record for misery described in a song, meaning it is the saddest of the sad. ~ Eugene Chadbourne