By: Debra Regur

Two working bluesmen – Albert Cummings and Bill Perry – return with new releases while an old friend, Jeremy Spencer of Fleetwood Mac fame, is back with his first original work in many a moon. All three new albums are available now on the national Blind Pig label.

Indeed, this is something of a comeback for Spencer, as his new disc, Precious Little (Bluestown/Blind Pig), is a return to form for a guitar master. Unbeknownst to most rock radio types, Fleetwood Mac was around a long time before the Stevie Nicks/Lindsey Buckingham band that produced scads of Top 40 hits. In their early incarnations, Mac was a blues/rock hybrid – and Spencer was a driving force behind their sound.

It's only been 35 years since Spencer left Fleetwood Mac (and a whopping 27 years since his last solo album), and he's worked sporadically since, most notably in the Peter Green Splinter Group (a fellow Mac alumnus) some time ago. Apparently, Spencer has found spirituality in a big way along the trail.

"Since leaving Fleetwood Mac 35 years ago, I have received many offers and most of them have been accepted or denied on the basis of prayer." Spencer may have found God, but he hasn't lost his guitar, singing, or songwriting skills, and few artists plying their trades today are better on the resonator guitar than Spencer.

There's a hodge podge of originals and covers here, with some songs faring better than others; the aging Spencer's overall style meanders a bit, given his elder statesman status. However, there are several gems here, particularly his cover of Elmore James' "It Hurts Me Too" which rivals Eric Clapton's recent version, and his original tune "Trouble And Woe" is the best original, pure blues song we've heard in a long time, rife with real passion and emotion. Spencer may have gone from the green Fleetwood Mac to a graying veteran, but as he was in his tenure with the British legends, he's a bluesman through and through.

As is upstate's Bill Perry, who returns with producer and fellow guitarist Popa Chubby in tow with Don't Know Nothin' About Love, his latest offering. Perry has gone through a bunch of labels and producers in the past decade, but he seems to have found a home at Blind Pig and with Chubby, who he describes as "a genius in the studio whose enthusiasm gets everybody going."

In reality, Chubby's production style is has ham-fisted as his live performances, with everything mixed hot and more than a bit over-the-top. However, with an artist like Perry, the style works. Despite his gritty vocal style and renowned proficiency on guitar, Perry's overall style used to be too mild-mannered – until the rotund Chubby got a hold on him. Now, Perry's excellent guitar is right up front and center, and this new album of mainly original songs showcases the personable gentleman at his best.

In fact, the version of "Hello Josephine" here is rocking and raucous, and is exactly the kind of upbeat song that could propel Perry into the upper echelon of blues guitarists after years of beating the bushes.

The best effort here is by Cumming with his new release, Working Man. Produced by Grammy winner Jim Gaines, the title track refers to Merle Haggard's "Workin' Man Blues," which is a perfect song choice for this artist, the prototypical traveling blues artist. Cummings, whose status grows with each passing year, has shared bills with such artists as The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Susan Tedeschi, and Tommy Castro (who stylistically he seems closest to), and has jammed with B.B. King. This album, however, comes the nearest to displaying the raw energy that Cummings exudes onstage.

Highlights here are the title track, "I'm Free," and "I Feel Good," which thankfully isn't the 12,000th cover of the James Brown chestnut. Cummings is a fine guitarist, but it's his full-throated, earnest vocals that set this set apart from the rest.

If you'd like to hear more, Blind Pig – amazingly – has free downloads of tracks by all three artists now up on their website, blindpigrecords.com, so you can try before you buy.


Debra Regur
Director of Publicity
Blind Pig Records

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