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The great bluesman returns to his
Mississippi-by-way-of-Southside Chicago roots, in songs that capture
the raw emotion of electrified blues at its best. Charlie incorporates
all his experiences – from his days with Muddy Waters and John Lee
Hooker to recent musical friendships with Ben Harper and Tom Waits –
into this new batch of powerful, hard-rocking tunes.
Shot through with attitude, the songs on
DELTA HARDWARE feel rough-hewn and tough, just as they should for a
guy “born in Mississippi [and] raised up in Tennessee.” Charlie cuts
loose a good time in Clarksdale, pipes up for the downtrodden, and
gives a lover the ol’ heave-ho. This is raw, passionate music from a
howlin’ blues legend who’s still invigorated by a youthful spirit.
It’s Charlie’s mix of wild country abandon seasoned by years of
playing urban electric blues in Chicago that spurs the likes of Ben
Harper, Tom Waits and Government Mule to welcome Musselwhite onto
their stages and records. That same brash, blues/rock rebel vibe was
Dan Aykroyd’s inspiration for his Elwood Blues persona, and it’s what
has won Musselwhite a pile of blues awards and earned the admiration
and respect of his own heroes: Howlin’ Wolf, John Lee Hooker and Muddy
Waters. John Lee was even the best man at Charlie’s wedding.
Pulled, like the albums of R.L. Burnside and the North Mississippi
Allstars, out of the storied Mississippi Delta and Hill Country, DELTA
HARDWARE is a mixture of songs written over the past few years and
ideas fleshed out in the studio, and includes a new twist on the
longtime live staple, Clarksdale Boogie. True to the blues as an
expression of a range of honest emotions and stories, DELTA HARDWARE ranges from upbeat jewels like the party track
Church Is Out to more
socially conscious songs like Black Water and The Invisible Ones. With
the latter two tracks, inspired by the devastation caused by Hurricane
Katrina, Charlie paints a stark, honest tribute to those suffering in
and around New Orleans and in his home state: “Old black water lappin’
at your back door/Hello America, better get ready for more/Trouble,
trouble all around here/ just too tired to shed one tear/ Black Water/
It’s a sign of our times.” |
