BIG JACK JOHNSON
The Memphis Barbecue Sessions
M.C./Festival

 Mississippi's Big Jack Johnson has a well-deserved reputation for leading one of the tightest, toughest blues bands on the roadhouse circuit. Here, Johnson works without his band, playing front porch blues on acoustic guitar with terrific backing from harp player Kim Wilson. Mixing original tunes with songs drawn from predecessors like Howlin' Wolf and John Lee Hooker, Johnson and Wilson get deep inside the blues trading licks like a Delta version of Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee.

 Legendary pianist Pinetop Perkins and drummer Mark Carpentieri join the proceedings for a couple of cuts including Humming Blues, an achingly beautiful adaptation of Come Back Baby. Another highlight is a bluesy version Get Along Little Cindy, an old-time country tune that Johnson plays on the mandolin. ****

--Mike Regenstreif, March 7 edition of the Montreal Gazette