Hot Wax: Can't Steal My Fire: The Songs of David Olney (2024)

The late David Olney was a superlative songwriter and a natural storyteller, capable of spinning tales with an imagination the equal of any novelist or poet. A Rhode Island native who landed in Nashville by way of North Carolina and Georgia, Olney and his band the X-Rays were early pioneers of the Music City’s bourgeoning late ‘70s rock scene, recording two albums for Rounder Records. Olney launched a solo career in the mid-‘80s that resulted in better than 30 studio and live albums, his last being 2021’s Whispers and Sighs, a posthumous collaboration with singer/songwriter Anana Kaye. Olney passed away of an apparent heart attack in January 2020 while performing onstage at the 30A Songwriter Festival in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida.

Although Olney never received the commercial returns an artist of his talent deserved, he was well-respected by other artists and songwriters. Musical legends like Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle, Del McCoury, and Linda Rondstadt thought enough of his skills as a wordsmith to record Olney songs like “If My Eyes Were Blind,” “Women Cross the River,” and “Jerusalem Tomorrow” while talents such as John Hiatt, Guy Clark, and Townes Van Zandt considered him a peer. As Olney told me in an interview for my 2012 book The Other Side of Nashville, “I used to be pissed-off about not being more famous. But I got to see the world in an intimate kind of way, and that’s OK.”    

Can’t Steal My Fire: The Songs of David Olney

It’s been almost five years since Olney’s death and he’s been provided an honor afforded few of even the most commercially-successful of his contemporaries – a bona fide tribute album. Released by Americana label New West Records, Can’t Steal My Fire: The Songs of David Olney compiles 17 of Olney’s tunes on four sides of vinyl (also available on CD), performed by folks like Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams, Dave Alvin, Mary Gauthier, and Willis Alan Ramsey. Olney makes an appearance himself with the eerie, previously-unreleased “Sonnet #40,” while Executive Producer Gwil Owen, a longtime friend of Olney’s, dug up a vintage, unreleased live recording of Townes Van Zandt performing Olney’s “Illegal Cargo” in 1977 in Chapel Hill NC.

Although Olney is usually pigeonholed as a country or folk artist, as I wrote in my review of his 2014 album When the Deal Goes Down, “much like Van Zandt, Olney brings country and folk influences to his songs, but he also imbues his performances with a punk-rock intensity and attitude.” In truth, Olney brought whatever tool he needed – country, folks, blues, rock – to crafting his songs. Can’t Steal My Fire opens with Lucinda Williams’ take on Olney’s “Deeper Well,” the title track of his 1988 album for Rounder Records. Williams is a kindred spirit, a fellow musical outsider who has tasted fleeting success, and an incredible vocalist. When she sinks her teeth into a performance like she does here on “Deeper Well,” she transforms the song, this time into a powerful Delta blues dirge, her haunting vocals supported by Stuart Mathis’s otherworldly guitar playing. It’s an electrifying reminder of what a singer like Williams can do with an already great song.

By contrast, Olney’s longtime friend Steve Earle applies his own considerable vocal talents to “Sister Angelina,” a standout track from 1992’s Border Crossing album. A folkish ballad with Mexican instrumental flourishes, Earle’s nuanced performance is boosted by Jeff Hill’s engaging and exotic fretwork. It’s a gorgeous song, done right by Earle. The McCrary Sisters – unknown to me before now – take “Voices On the Water,” co-written by Olney with Gwil Owen, and apply a Gospel fervor to their performance, magnifying the lyrics and raising a joyous noise. Buddy Miller doesn’t so much interpret “Jerusalem Tomorrow” as much as he moves in and inhabits the song with a strong spoken/sung performance that focus more on the song than the singer.

David Olney 2019, photo by Scott Housley

If My Eyes Were Blind

The Steeldrivers open side two of Can’t Steal My Fire, bringing a bluegrass fury to “If My Eyes Were Blind,” also from Deeper Well. The band weaves elegant instrumentation around Olney’s poetic lyrics, creating a lush soundscape that perfectly captures Olney’s emotional original. Acclaimed Texas singer/songwriter Willis Alan Ramsey brings a bit of whimsy to his performance of “Women Across the River,” his atmospheric vocals accented by Tammy Rogers’ lovely mandolin and fiddle-play. Louisiana folkie Mary Gauthier brings a minimalist Southern Gothic vibe to “1917,” from 1999’s Through A Glass Darkly. Although she’s accompanied by subtle and subdued instrumentation, her vocals are simply mesmerizing, drawing your focus to the story so that everything else falls away.

Americana legend Jimmie Dale Gilmore kicks of the album’s third side with “If It Wasn’t For the Wind,” a co-write with Joe Fleming from Olney’s first solo LP, 1986’s Eye of the Storm. Gilmore applies his warm, high-lonesome vocals to the winsome ballad, imbuing the song with a dreaminess that is punctuated by Warren Hood’s fiddle and guitarist Rich Brotherton’s lovely guitarplay. Olney collaborated with young singer/songwriter Anana Kaye and her musician husband Irakli Gabriel on Whispers and Sighs and they return the favor with an inspired performance of “Running From Love,” Kaye’s breathless vocals adding an urgent sensuality to the lyrics while guitarist Joe McMahan fiery leads lead the song to blues-rock territory. “That’s My Story,” from one of Olney’s more obscure albums, 1991’s Top To Bottom, is provided a talking blues-styled reading by folkie Greg Brown, who brings a Tom Waits vibe to the offbeat, absurdist story.

Olney’s “Sonnet #40” is equally bizarro, a short, shocking spoken-word vamp with Olney’s studio-altered vocals accompanied by jazzy instrumentation and lyrics that surprise. Afton Wolfe is another artist unfamiliar to these ears, but his high-energy, hard-rockin’ version of “Titanic” is as steely as its namesake’s hull. With gritty vocals driven to madness by McMahan’s metallic fretwork, it’s a dino-stomp in a league with Sabbath or Zeppelin. Dave Alvin digs all the way back to the X-Rays’ 1981 album Contender for “Steal My Thunder,” the Americana pioneer transforming the song into a bluesy roots-rocker with help from the Rick Holmstrom Trio. Jim Lauderdale brings a honky-tonk authenticity to “Delta Blue,” complete with enchanting Dobro and fiddle. The aforementioned Townes Van Zandt performance of “Illegal Cargo” closes out Can’t Steal My Fire. Another great song from Deeper Well, what this 1977 live recording lacks in sonic quality it more than makes up for with pathos and sincerity.        
 

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

I was privileged to have known David Olney, and to have seen him perform a number of times – more than enough to stand in awe of the man and his music. A singular talent, Olney’s skills as a lyrical storyteller are unequalled in popular music, and his ability to perfectly capture the human condition in the unyielding amber of song is his legacy. As shown by the 17 songs on Can’t Steal My Fire, Olney was a hell of a wordsmith, and it’s because his work drew so deeply from the entirety of American music that it is truly timeless and open to endless interpretation. Can’t Steal My Fire provides a wonderful introduction to David Olney, and will motivate more than a few first-time listeners to dig into his rich and varied catalog of music…for which they’ll be suitably rewarded. Grade: A+ (New West Records, released August 27th, 2024)

Buy the album from Amazon: Can’t Steal My Fire: The Songs of David Olney

Also on That Devil Music: Gwil Owen talks about David Olney & the Can’t Steal My Fire LP

The Reverend’s tribute to Olney on the Rock and Roll Globe website

Q5: Gwil Owen talks about David Olney & the Can't Steal My Fire LP (2024)

Nashville musician Gwil Owen was a longtime friend and collaborator with David Olney and the Executive Producer of the recently-released tribute album, Can’t Steal My Fire: The Songs of David Olney. The Reverend pitched a few questions to Owen about the album via email:

Q1. How did Can’t Steal My Fire come about?
David was my closest friend and we had many conversations about the fact that he probably wouldn’t get true recognition until he was dead and gone. One night we played a show together and met Regina McCrary. After she left Dave said, “we should get the McCrary Sisters to cut one of our songs.” I said, “what song of ours would they cut?” and Dave said, “Voices on the Water!” I always remembered that conversation and it was an honor to make that wish come true. When he died, I realized that I was the logical person to make this record and his family agreed.
 
Q2. How did you choose which artists to include, and did they select the songs they performed?
David spent a lifetime on the road, so he got to know a lot of his fellow songwriters, and I knew that he was greatly admired in that circle. I mostly focused on those that I also knew personally, as it made it a lot easier. Steve Earle, Dave Alvin, Mary Gauthier, and R.B. Morris all knew which songs they wanted to do, so of course I agreed to all of those; I chose most of the rest.
 
Q3. Were there any artists who you wanted to include on the album but couldn’t get?
The first artist who agreed to be on the record was John Prine. Tragically, he died of COVID just a month later, before he had a chance to record his track. 2020 was a year of heartbreaks. I spent a good while talking with Tom Waits’ people; he loved the tracks I sent him and set up a Zoom meeting with his record label. I thought for sure we had him, but in the end it didn’t work out. There’s also a never-released Johnny Cash version of “Jerusalem Tomorrow” that I couldn’t manage to pry out of Rick Rubin’s hands.
 
Q4. How would you describe David Olney’s music?
Dave was a master storyteller; he could work all the necessary elements into a song so skillfully that you never noticed the enormous amount of information he was giving you. Listen to “Illegal Cargo” for example. He also had a tremendous imagination; he thought of approaches and points of view that would never occur to most writers. Telling the story of the Titanic from the perspective of the iceberg is probably the most famous example of that. Just as important as all his technical skill and creativity was his tremendous empathy. He really cared about people, and that big heart of his is beating loudly throughout every single one of his songs.
 
Q5. What would you like listeners to know about Olney?
He made about 20 albums in his lifetime and there are great songs on every one. If you like this record, I encourage you to check out the songs as sung by the man himself.

Buy the album from Amazon: Can’t Steal My Fire: The Songs of David Olney

Also on That Devil Music: Can't Steal My Fire album review

Short Rounds: Shemekia Copeland, Jade Warrior, Gwil Owen, Prince & the Revolution, Sour Ops, Supersonic Blues Machine & 'Heroes and Villains' (July 2022)

New album releases in 200 words or less...

Shemekia Copeland – Done Come Too Far (Alligator Records)
One of today’s finest singers in any genre, Shemekia Copeland has been on an impressive roll, delivering three consecutive career-making albums, the last two working with Nashville producer/musician Will Kimbrough. Third time’s a charm, Copeland returning to the Music City to collaborate with Kimbrough again on Done Come Too Far, which features talented friends like Sonny Landreth, Cedric Burnside, and Aaron Lee Tasjan complimenting the steady backing of bassist Lex Price and drummer Pete Abbott. The results are pure magic (again). Copeland blows the doors down with the defiant “Too Far To Be Gone,” her powerful vocals soaring atop Landreth’s serpentine slide-work. The African-flavored “Gullah Geechee” ties Delta field hollers to their deeper roots while the Cajun romp “Fried Catfish and Bibles” is a sheer delight. Socially-conscious songs like “Pink Turns To Red” are turbocharged by Copeland’s awesome, pissed-off, pummeling vocals while a cover of Ray Wylie Hubbard’s “Barefoot In Heaven” adds a blues tint to the Americana gem. The heavyweight title track is fueled by Copeland’s fierce voice and Burnside’s mesmerizing fretwork. Closing with her father Johnny’s “Nobody But You,” Copeland cements her blues bona-fides with blistering intensity. What are you waiting for; go buy it! Grade: A+  BUY IT!

Jade Warrior – Last Autumn’s Dream (Esoteric Recordings U.K.)
The third album from British art-rockers Jade Warrior, 1972’s Last Autumn’s Dream found the relatively obscure (stateside) band exploring much the same musical turf as fellow 1970s-era proggers King Crimson, Family, or Gentle Giant, but with loftier intent, more reliance on English folk traditions, and seemingly less of an eye on rock stardom. Which is to say that it’s every bit as interesting and multi-textured as any other prog-rock album released the time, its tracklist jumping from the pastoral, classicist beauty of “A Winter’s Tale” to the bristling, angry hard rock of “Snake,” and right back to the darkly-atmospheric ambient nightmare tones of “Dark River,” all in the course of a quarter-hour. That’s not even mentioning the exotic instrumentation, whiplash time signature changes, and oblique lyrics that inhabit each performance like a hallucinogenic fungus. Guitarist Tony Duhig and percussionist Jon Field were bandmates in 1960s psych-rockers July (their self-titled 1968 LP is a psych classic), and their combined vision drove Jade Warrior to maddeningly-delightful heights of creativity. The band’s self-titled 1971 debut may rock harder, and their sophomore effort, Release, is artier but, with Last Autumn’s Dream, they found the sweet spot in the eye of the hurricane. Grade: B   BUY IT!    

Gwil Owen – The Road To the Sky (self-produced)
Singer, songwriter, and guitarist Gwil Owen is one of the many talented outsiders looking in on Nashville’s mainstream music biz, a DIY lifer making music on his own terms. The Road To the Sky is Owen’s follow-up to 2020’s excellent Flying Dream, and it follows a similar vein with touches of rock, country, and Little Feat-styled funk. Owen is accompanied here by talented friends like multi-instrumentalist Joe McMahan, keyboardist Tony Crow, and bassist Dave Jacques, and it shows in the grooves. “When the Songwriter’s Gone” displays a few Springsteen-esque flourishes within its loping backroads vibe and gorgeous guitarplay while “Ghost Town” rocks with brilliant poetic imagery. “Change” relies on minimal instrumentation and Owen’s gritty, twangy vocals (think Delbert McClinton) and the haunting, bluesy “Murder” reminds of Tom Waits. Owen uses a pre-recorded guitar coda from his late friend David Olney to fittingly punctuate the beautiful ballad “She Does It All With Her Eyes.” Owen is a gifted story-teller and a charismatic lyricist with an ear for melody and the ability to create deceptively-complex and lush soundscapes. An adventuresome, old-school tunesmith in the vein of Olney or Guy Clark, Owen is an artist worth your time to discover. Grade: A   BUY DIRECT!

Prince and the Revolution – Live (NPG Records/Sony Legacy)
If you’re a Prince fan (and who isn’t?), don’t let the nearly $40 price tag of this swanky set deter you from jumping, headfirst, into the deep end of the pool. Documenting an especially electric 1985 performance in Syracuse NY, Live offers 20 dynamite songs across two CDs and a Blu-ray disc with 5.1 surround sound, as well as a groovy 24-page color booklet with liner notes and rare photos. Prince and the Revolution were 93 shows into a 98-show tour in support of the chart-topping, thirteen-million-selling Purple Rain album and they’re firing on all cylinders. Prince’s trademark blend of psych-drenched guitar rock, slinky funk, and sizzling soul was on full display on a “greatest hits” setlist that includes crowd-pleasers like “1999,” “Little Red Corvette,” “When Doves Cry,” and a mind-bending, expanded reading of “Purple Rain” showcasing the Purple One’s justified ‘Guitar God’ status (and the band’s tight-knit musical chemistry).  There’s nothing here from Around the World In A Day, which was released a month after this show, but there are plenty of choice cuts from 1999 and Purple Rain alongside the deep cuts, making Live an invaluable snapshot of Prince and the Revolution at the peak of their powers. Grade: A   BUY IT!

Sour Ops – Deep Fake (Feralette Media)
Nashville rockers Sour Ops break up the crushing monotony of reality with another id-tickling album, Deep Fake, a collection guaranteed to scratch whatever musical itch is currently plaguing your fever-dream cerebellum. Ringmaster Price Harrison leads his crackerjack band through ten high-voltage, hair-raising performances that range from the bright, buoyant power-pop of “Navy Blue” and the jagged satire of the dark-hued “Doomsday Prepper” to the pop-metal edge of “Texas Punk 66,” which wears its gorgeous guitar tone like a magic cloak. The title track is a fierce mid-tempo rocker with brilliant lyrics about fleeting celebrity that is combined with stunning, chaotic fretwork while “Another Letdown” turns a keen eye towards modern society with 1960s-styled psychedelic pop and vintage ‘70s muscle car rock overkill, resulting in a bloody good time. The insightful “I Followed You Down” explores the dangers of falling prey to a cult of personality while Deep Fake closes its too-short 30-minutes with “Fall Into the Sky,” a shimmering, ethereal love song with yearning instrumentation. With Deep Fake, Sour Ops has moved beyond the obvious Replacements/Stooges/Cheap Trick references to truly find their own musical voice, one that masterfully blends everything that came before into something unique, personal, and entirely stunning. Grade: A+   BUY DIRECT!

Supersonic Blues Machine – Voodoo Nation (Provogue Records)
Supersonic Blues Machine is the trio of bassist Fabrizio Grossi, guitarist Kris Barras, and journeyman drummer Kenny Aronoff, the band showing itself to be a well-oiled, high-performance engine of destruction with Voodoo Nation, their third studio album (and the first to feature Barras, a British fretburner in the Rory Gallagher tradition). As with their first couple of blues-busting albums, Voodoo Nation offers up an inspired blend of blues, rock, and funk all delivered with no little heart and soul. Also as with previous LPs, they invited a slew of blues-rock axe-manglers along for the ride, with talents like Eric Gales, Ana Popovic, Joe Louis Walker, Kirk Fletcher, and Sonny Landreth jumping into the rumble seat. King Solomon Hicks brings a Hill Country vibe to the sonic-grind of “You and Me” and “Devil At the Doorstep” benefits from Gales’ fluid tones and imagination. Popovic is an underrated gem whose duel with Barras is pure blues-guitar heaven while the Supersonic guitarist lights a wildfire with the inspired “Too Late” and its Leadbelly licks. The title track is a swamp-rock masterpiece with swagger, stunning fretwork, and a dark-hued ambiance. Supersonic Blues Machine ain’t your grand-pappy’s blues, but they could be yours. Grade: B   BUY IT!

Various Artists – Heroes and Villains: The Sound of Lost Angeles 1965-68 (Grapefruit Records U.K.)
From pop, rock, and proto-Americana to blues, folk, and psychedelia, there’s no denying that the mid-‘60s L.A. music scene was bursting at the seams with creativity and vision. Leave it up to those madmen at U.K. archival label Grapefruit to document the history of this influential era. Heroes and Villains collects a whopping 90 (!) tunes on three CDs in a nifty clamshell, the accompanying guidebook offering comprehensive liner notes and rare photos. The “usual suspects” to be found here, well-known chart titans like the Monkees, Paul Revere & the Raiders, Steppenwolf, Sonny & Cher, and the Mamas and the Papas, among others, but not always the songs you might think you’d find. There are oddities like the Mothers of Invention and Captain Beefheart; talented obscurities like Tim Buckley and Ruth Friedman; and cult rockers like Love, Kaleidoscope, and Merrell Fankhauser’s various bands. Where the box set really shines, though, is with the too-cool unknowns like the Rose Garden, Children of the Mushroom, the Laughing Wind, or the Chyldren, et al. There’s a lot of meat on these discs, a myriad of musical possibilities and styles, more than a few of which are guaranteed to satisfy your musical needs... Grade: A   BUY IT!

Previously on That Devil Music.com:

Short Rounds, December 2021: Calidoscopio, Deep Purple, Tom Guerra, The Specials, The Wildhearts, Sami Yaffa & 'I'm A Freak Baby 3'

Short Rounds, September 2021: Marshall Crenshaw, Crack The Sky, Donna Frost, Mark Harrison & the Happy Tramps, Christone ‘Kingfish’ Ingram, the Rubinoos, and Jon Savage’s 1972-1976

Short Rounds, June 2021: The Black Keys, the Bummers, Michael Nesmith, Greg “Stackhouse” Prevost, Quinn Sullivan, and the Vejtables

Short Rounds, April 2021: Peter Case, The Fortunate Few, David Olney & Anana Kaye, Sour Ops, Joe Strummer, and the Thieves

Short Rounds: The Bluefields, Dave Clark Five, Marshall Crenshaw, Gary Moore, Gwil Owen & Watermelon Slim (2020)

New album releases in 150 words or less…

The Bluefields – Day In the Sun (Underground Treehouse Records)
Veterans of Nashville’s country and rock scenes, the Bluefields include singer Joe Blanton (Royal Court of China), guitarists Warner Hodges (Jason & the Scorchers) and Dan Baird (Georgia Satellites), and drummer Brad Pemberton (Steve Earle). Day In the Sun is the band’s fourth album, their first in six years, and the Rev is here to tell you that it’s a real slobberknocker! The band achieves a solid, often funky groove on songs like “Bottom of the Barrel” and “Somewhere Down the Road” on top of which Hodges lays down his shimmering leads. Blanton is a soulful shouter with a hint of twang shaping his vocals as on “Born To Let You Down,” an unbridled rocker that hits your ears like a freight train teetering off the tracks. Offering a rib-ticklin’ meat ‘n’ taters buffet, Day In the Sun provides a musical feast for long-suffering fans of Southern rock ‘n’ roll. Grade: A   BUY!

Dave Clark Five – All the Hits (BMG)
British rocker Dave Clark was years ahead of his time in business savvy, holding onto all of the DC5’s rights long before most bands realized that their record labels could (and would) do them wrong. This has resulted in a deficit of DC5 reissues, and although beat-to-hell copies of old Dave Clark Five LPs can be found easily enough, it’d be nice to reintroduce this stuff to a new century. Hopefully All the Hits is the first salvo in a full-fledged reappraisal of this important British Invasion band’s legacy as the only outfit to serious challenge the Beatles for chart supremacy. More popular stateside than at home, the DC5 scored hits like “Glad All Over,” “Bits and Pieces,” “Any Way You Want It,” and “Over and Over” between 1964 and 1967, all of which are among the 16 red-hot tracks included here. It’s time to rediscover the Dave Clark Five! Grade: B+   BUY!

Marshall Crenshaw – Miracle of Science (Shiny-Tone Records)
The first in a series of reissues of Marshall Crenshaw’s 1990s-era Razor & Tie albums (on Crenshaw’s own Shiny-Tone Records label), Miracle of Science finds the rock icon expanding his signature power-pop sound in pursuit of a wider musical palette. Mostly recorded in Nashville with talents like Bill Lloyd, Brad Jones, and Pat Buchanan manning various instruments, Miracle of Science ranges from the shimmery, Smithereens-styled pop of “What Do You Dream Of?” and the honky-tonk flavored “Who Stole That Train” to Crenshaw’s trademark power-pop on “Starless Summer Sky.” A cover of Grant Hart’s “Twenty-Five Forty-One” is spot-on, the gorgeous soundtrack emphasizing the lyrics while oldie “The In Crowd” offers an imaginative blend of the song’s jazzy roots with bluesy overtones. I could do without the backwards “Seven Miles An Hour,” though. Criminally underrated when it was originally released, Miracle of Science will appeal to the discerning rock ‘n’ roll aficionado. Grade: A-   BUY! 

Gwil Owen – Flying Dream (Rambler Records)
Nashville’s Gwil Owen has been making great music in the Music City since the 1980s with bands like Fur Trade and the Thieves. For Flying Dream, he’s assisted by the cream-of-the-crop of local talent like guitarist Will Kimbrough, multi-instrumentalist Jim Hoke, and singer Brydget Carrillo, whose heavenly backing vox balance Owen’s whip-smart lyricism. Gwil’s no slouch in the musical department, and his instrumental talents shine throughout Flying Dream. It’s Owen’s sense of melody, however, combined with his skill as a wordsmith and the ability to create in various musical styles that make the country, rock, and blues of songs like the twangy rocker “I Would Lie” (with greasy Kimbrough guitar); the jazzy, eclectic “Hamster Wheel” (written with the late David Olney); or the soul-infused “Moth Without A Flame” (think Memphis 1970) stand out even in a city rich with talent; Owen is one of the best Nashville has to offer. Grade: A   BUY!

Gary Moore – Live From London (Provogue Records)
Guitar wunderkind Gary Moore left us too soon in 2011 at the too-young age of 58 years but, as proven by the 2009 show documented by Live From London, Moore was still performing at an impressively high level. Over a career that spanned five decades, Moore explored blues, jazz, hard rock, and heavy metal styles and all are represented to some extent on Live From London, but it’s Moore’s affinity for the blues which resonates the loudest. The guitarist imbues original material like the melancholy “Still Got the Blues” or the beautiful, flowing instrumental “Parisienne Walkway” with unbelievable amounts of emotion and energy. Choice covers like Otis Rush’s “All Your Love,” J.B. Lenoir’s “Mojo Boogie,” and a particularly heartfelt reading of Al Kooper’s “I Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know” are all painted various shades of blue and, as showcases for Moore’s immense talents, perfectly display his peerless abilities. Grade: A-   BUY!

Watermelon Slim – Traveling Man (Northern Blues Music)
For decades now, Watermelon Slim (a/k/a Bill Homans) has been one of the great, underrated talents of the blues. He’s not a soul crooner or a flash guitarist or a slick stylist, but Slim is a helluva songwriter and a fine slide-guitarist and his raw vocals are perfectly suited to his poetic, slice-of-life lyrics. The double-disc Traveling Man is Slim’s first live album, just the man and his guitar and the occasional blast of harmonica, and the solo setting does justice to lively and effective performances of gems like the Delta-inspired “Blue Freightliner,” the unique perspective of “Let It Be In Memphis,” and the haunting “Devil’s Cadillac.” Slim’s Okie patois imbues the songs with an undeniable authenticity while his erudite working-class blues strikes a chord with almost any listener. If you’re not familiar with the talents and charms of Watermelon Slim, Traveling Man is a great place start! Grade: A+   BUY!

Previously on That Devil Music.com:
Short Rounds, February 2020: Beach Slang, The Bar-Kays, Booker T. & the M.G.'s, Delaney & Bonnie, Mott the Hoople, Television Personalities
 
Short Rounds, January 2020: The Band, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Dana Gillespie, Manfred Mann, Mick Ronson, An A-Squared Compilation
 
Short Rounds, December 2019 (Holiday Gift Suggestions): Cindy Lee Berryhill, Black Pumas, Alice Cooper, Robyn Hitchcock & Andy Partridge, Handsome Dick Manitoba, The Muffs, Harry Nilsson, The Rosalyns, Bobby Rush