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Charlie Musselwhite
"Delta Hardware"
CD Review by Pat Benny
Charlie Musselwhite is back on the charts, back on the road with
his latest CD, released on the Real World label, "Delta Hardware."
Named after a hardware store in Clarksdale, Mississippi, "Delta
Hardware" is a return, of sorts, to the early Charlie Musselwhite;
the Memphis boy who came to Chicago to take it by storm, blow
it down and drink it dry.
"One Of These Mornings" sounds as if it jumped off
the label of Charlie's nineteen sixty-eight release, "Stone
Blues." On several tracks, Charlie has shucked his feathery
whisper and acoustic harp for the shoutin' vocals and Chicago
crunch that has made him a favorite to blues fans around the world.
"Sundown" is another electric blues, rife with aggressive
harp solos and vocals. "Clarksdale Boogie" is a prime
example of Charlie's habit of taking an old composition and giving
it new life with a different arrangement.
Charlie's band consists of:
Chris "Kid" Andersen--guitars
Randy Bermudes--bass
June Core--drums and percussion
The album takes a hard left with "Black Water." "Black
water is a sign of the times," says Charlie, in this song
about the devastation of the Delta by hurricane Katrina. While
the song doesn't suggest any solutions, its chilling arrangement
will forevermore reflect the hardships faced by so many.
If I were asked to choose the weakest link of these ten tracks,
it would be "The Invisible Ones." His feeble vocal and
specious lyrics suggest that Charlie Musselwhite has never found
himself as invisible as this writer; nor the ones for which he
presumes to represent.
It's always a pleasure to hear new material from Charlie, and
"Delta Hardware" is a fine album for any blues collection.
http://www.charlie-musselwhite.com
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