By Rosalind Cummings-Yeates
CHARLIE & BEN RETURN
Charlie Musselwhite and Ben Harper
C
harlie Musselwhite and Ben Harper,
with 26 years between them as well as
diverse influences and genres, appear
to be an unlikely musical pair. They proved
that their blend of upbeat Chicago blues and
new school Delta blues was a winning combo
on the Grammy-winning Get Up! (Concord).
But it's still a surprising treat to realize that
they’ve committed to continue their blues duo
with a sophomore album, No Mercy In This
Land (Anti). This 10-tune offering is bleaker
and rawer than their 2013 debut, but it
demonstrates just how well unlikely pairings
can work.
Opening with the haunting “When I Go,”
harp and moaning guitar meet at a crossroads
of regret and resentment as Harper croons
“work so hard/with nothing to show/ and it’s
much too late to change my name/ I’ll take
you with me when I go.” “Bad Habits” pours
out foot-stomping blues and “The Bottle Wins
Again” roars with a nasty blues harp and a
familiar tale of drinking and temptation. Blues
icon
John
Lee
Hooker
introduced
Musselwhite and Harper in 1998 for a remake
of his classic “Burnin’ Hell.” Although it
would be a couple of decades before they
worked together again, they both walked sim-
ilar paths in discovering blues culture and
music.
Musselwhite famously left Memphis and
landed in Chicago where he sat in with blues
legends like Muddy Waters and Sonny Boy
Williamson. Harper discovered old blues
14 illinoisentertainer.com november 2018
records in his grandparent's music store in
Claremont, California. By the time he was 20,
he was learning from blues master like Louis
Meyers before joining Taj Mahal’s touring
band in the ‘90s.
The title song reflects the tragedy that
often informs genuine blues. Harper sings
most of the album's songs, but Musselwhite
delivers the last chilling verse for “No Mercy
in This Land”; “Father left us down here all
alone/My poor mother lies under a
stone/with an aching heart and trembling
hands/Is there no mercy in this land?”
Although the lyrics certainly address the cur-
rent violent climate of the U.S, it deals specifi-
cally with the murder of Musselwhite’s 93-
year-old mother in 2005. He battled his
impulse to return to the bottle, but the tune,
written by Harper, supplied a healthier outlet
for his grief. Musselwhite and Harper’s col-
laboration shows how the blues remains vital
in this era for the same reasons it was essential
in the past. Blues addresses life’s highs and
lows, and sometimes it offers an emotional
release that listeners can’t find anywhere else.
Blues is a genre that lends itself easily to a
range of interpretations, but there’s nothing
quite like the blues from a woman’s perspec-
tive. Urban blues was first popularized by
charismatic women like Ma Rainey and Bessie
Smith, and it's feminine shouts and inflections
that continue to define the vocal tradition.
Fans who think that the blueswoman tradition
is faltering have only to listen to a few notes of
Trudy Lynn’s commanding contralto to real-
ize that it’s alive and kicking.
On her 13th CD, Blues Ain’t Nothing
(Connor Ray) the septuagenarian roars
through the ten tracks with enough energy
and skill to shame the latest millennial iTunes
fave. She spares no time for warm up on the
first tune, “Blues Ain’t Nothin,’” a hip-shak-
ing blues rocker that likens the genre to a com-
plicated relationship: “Blues ain’t nothing but
a woman want to see her man/cause she
wants some lovin’/ only women will under-
stand.” The title song is a dynamic shuffle that
features Trudy belting out lyrics with a sexy
swagger, and she tackles Etta James “I Sing
The Blues” with a commanding performance
that whips listeners into a bluesy fever.
A six-time Blues Music Award nominee
and Houston native, Trudy was officially
introduced to the professional stage when
blues legend Albert Collins invited her to sing
on the bandstand when she was a teen. She
sang with the Clarence Green Band for years
before finally going solo. **Blues Keep
Knocking features classics by Jimmy Rogers,
Big Maybelle, and Big Bill Broonzy as well as
her original title song. She invigorates Roger’s
“That's Alright” with a yearning spirit that
draws in the listener. The album’s highlight,
“One Monkey Don’t Stop No Show,” doesn’t
even include much of Trudy’s show-stopping
vocals. She takes this Big Maybelle hit and
conjures a bawdy good time with just her
smooth talking and some sax, with piano
thrown in for good measure. And that’s the
magic of a blueswoman.
The Neo Blues Project (Ropeadope) serves
up a lively showcase for rising talent AJ
Ghent. Offering up the most flavorful mix of
blues, funk, and soul since Gary Clark Jr., this
tight package of six well-produced tunes is
not to be missed. The album title speaks for
itself. Ghent aims to refresh the genre with a
different perspective, and he succeeds. The
masterful opener, “Do The Rump!” is an inno-
vative take on a Junior Kimbrough tune which
he makes a standout with fiery slide guitar
and synth. “Power” is another highlight, with
supple vocals and revelatory guitar riffs that
make this a neo-blues anthem. Ghent self-pro-
duced the album and his vision for contempo-
rary blues serves us all well. A third-genera-
tion lap steel guitar musician, his great-uncle
Willie Eason developed the “sacred steel tradi-
tion” and his grandfather Harry Nelson creat-
ed the “sacred steel” rhythm guitar style.
Ghent is carrying the family legacy on with
power and creativity.