The Derek Trucks Band - Songlines - 82796 92844 2

At first glance, this doesn't have much going for it. There's the band's name to start. Then there's the fact that Derek Trucks appears to be a young, old-fashioned guitar hero and has a long, irritating pony-tail. You can see the pony-tail in a photo on the album which shows him sitting on a camp chair in the desert, guitar poised, with his back to the camera while the rest of the band walks adoringly up a slope toward him. That irritated me as well. And then he latches on to Aboriginal songlines and quotes Bruce Chatwin on the subject, who, while a brilliant writer, wasn't known for sticking to the facts about anything when it didn't suit him.

So it was just as well that I heard the music on the Jazz and Conversation blog before I was exposed to any of the above. I suppose it's mostly jazz or blues with, inevitably, horror of horrors, some jazz-rock, and there is an air of nostalgia hanging over the whole thing, stemming from the style rather than the content, which is nearly all up-beat. I'm sure I heard something like it when I was in college but I can't think what it was. However, it's all tightly played, only sinks into self-indulgence on the Indian-influenced track, Sahib Teri Bandi, and has loads of strong melodies. I knew there had to be a reason I keep playing it.

Great Lake Swimmers @ Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff 11/05/06

In retrospect, I would rather have caught John Vanderslice supporting Death Cab back in March than the two bands who supported Great Lake Swimmers last week. Anyway, after two supports, on came Tony Dekker, quiet leader of the band and they kicked off about an hour or so of wistful, VERY low-key and intimate folk; Dekker on his acoustic, accompanied by a Banjo player and drummer for most of the set.

Gigs like this can go either way, much like the albums, and you were one of two people at the gig. Either you were quietly chatting away with the support band or you were taking Dekker's songs in and getting annoyed at the ones talking. Problem was that the songs were so quiet that the chatting was actually louder at times!

Dekker got everyone to shut up with a mesmerising and moving solo rendition of 'This Is Not Like Home'; you could literally hear a pin drop (think I did too). He's such a quiet character, and an unassuming frontman also. My mate went up to ask him for a setlist two seconds after he'd gotten off stage, and Dekker actually shyed away, bless him. Still, the mind wandered rarely during the setlist, and was a good advert for the 'South By South Wales' festival (see what they did there?).

35X35 – Alligator Records – ALCD 120/21

This compilation has one track from each of the 35 years of Alligator Records, set up in 1971 by the then 23-year-old blues fan, Bruce Iglaur. The first signing was Hound Dog Taylor who, appropriately, kicks off the compilation with She’s Gone (well, it wouldn’t be the blues if she’d come back, would it?). There’s barely a dud on the two discs, with contributions from Professor Longhair , Clarence Gatemouth Brown, Charlie Musselwhite, C J Chenier and The Holmes Brothers, among others.

Some are worth it for the names alone: Lil’ Ed and The Blues Imperials, Little Charlie and The Nightcats and Guitar Shorty but there’s no explanation of why they’re all apparently challenged in the physical stature department. It’s the women who stand out, though: Saffire – The Uppity Blues Women, Koko Taylor, Katie Webster, and Shemekia Copeland. The latter's 1998 recording of Salt In My Wounds, made when she was only 18, makes me think Joss Stone might as well retire now.

You can buy 35X35 direct from
Alligator Records which would be a good thing to do.

Bruce Springsteen - The Seeger Sessions (Columbia)

Can I apologise for doing this straight away. Sorry. I bought this album 30 minutes after seeing it performed live in one of the best concerts of my life. Springsteen and his 17 strong Seeger Sessions band live at St Lukes in East London in front of 200 people for a BBC recording. They were sensational. The album, his latest tribute to the american working man, is traditional US folk songs in honour of Pete Seeger. The band are tighter than a banjo string and perform the whole thing (on disc as well as live I must add) with what comes over as real spontaneity and joy. A great horn section, violins, accordians and much else. It all has a strong Louisiana twist and I defy anyone not to join in, if only with a tapping toe. Far better, pour a large JD, fire up the barbie and holler along with the bluegrass spirit. For those of us who were there at the beginning it's been a great journey from Asbury Park via Thunder Road, The River, and Nebraska, passing The Ghost of Tom Joad to The Rising and now this. And on this form, plenty more to come. If you want to see or hear the concert it's on Radio 2 on Saturday evening (May 13th - available worldwide via the BBC RadioPlayer) or on BBC4 on Friday 19th or BBC 2 Saturday 20th. Set your recorders...


(The TV picture will be better than my phone cam...)

The Wood Brothers - Ways Not To lose (Blue Note B000E6UK4G)

The Wood Brothers are a guitar- bass duo. They combine into a blues - country- folk - jazz- gospel kind of mix. (I'm tempted to stop the review at that). Chris (bass) and Oliver (guitar and vocals) are brothers who have played in other bands and just got together and released this album. I heard a couple of tracks on the Paul Jones show on Radio 2 on Thursdays (yes the Manfred Mann Paul Jones - I recommend the show) and they really hit the spot - you know, that one in your stomach that's attached to your spine. Sample Atlas as a great example of their work, or The Luckiest Man strikes a particular chord with me. More information available here. Just go and listen. You won't regret it.