The Blues Rolls On (CD - 2008)

Personnel: Elvin Bishop (vocals, guitar, slide guitar); Ryan Perry (vocals, guitar); R.C. Carrier (vocals, rub-board); Timm Walker (guitar); Taya Perry, Don Baldwin, Bobby Cochran (drums).

Audio Mixer: Steve Savage.

Liner Note Author: Dick Shurman.

Recording information: Digital Insight Studio, Las Vegas, NV; Handyland Studio, Clarksdale, MS; Hog Heaven Studio, Lagunitas, CA; Mexico; Voodoo Lounge, Kansas City, MO; Wired Studio, Austin, TX.

Photographer: Bob Hakins.

Blues-rock guitar vet Elvin Bishop has been burning up the fretboard since the 1960s, but on his 2008 offering, THE BLUES ROLLS ON, he shows no signs of wear. Bishop calls on a bevy of talented friends to join him as he tackles everything from Chicago blues to accordion-fueled, zydeco-tinged R&B. With able assistance from both the old guard (James Cotton, B.B. King) and the new (Tommy Castro, Derek Trucks), Bishop rolls out an album that's a non-stop celebration of his beloved American art form in all its manifold manifestations.

Bishop hops labels once again, this time to the relatively young and scrappy Delta Groove imprint, while calling up some names in his obviously well-stocked Rolodex to assist on his first predominately studio album in three years. Like most guest studded affairs, this is an inconsistent but enjoyable romp. It also works as a career recap of sorts with Bishop revisiting "Yonder's Wall," a tune from his Butterfield Blues Band days (with Ronnie Baker Brooks and Tommy Castro), along with the Southern styled party sound that proved so commercially viable during his '70s Capricorn affiliation, in addition to other covers. He strips things down for a solo musical life history in "Oklahoma," an electric, educational traipse through his back pages from his early years in the titular state, set against stark, distorted boogie guitar. He taps the youngsters in the Homemade Jamz Blues Band, another Delta Groove signing, for a cool grooving version of Junior Wells' "Come On in This House," and features John Nemeth on vocals for three tracks and harp on the closing midtempo Jimmy Reed instrumental "Honest I Do," apparently the first blues song a young Bishop heard on his transistor radio as a child in Oklahoma. Fellow boogie man George Thorogood squares off with Bishop and takes lead vocals for a frolic through Hound Dog Taylor's "Send You Back to Georgia," and Bishop references his Capricorn days with current Allman Brothers Band guitarists Derek Trucks and Warren Haynes on a reworked "Struttin' My Stuff." B.B. King stops by for a short interview that leads into a jazzy, swinging cover of Roy Milton's "Keep a Dollar in Your Pocket," a song King was familiar with from his old Memphis DJ days. R.C. Carrier and Andre Thierry shift the proceedings to a bluesy, zippy zydeco on "Black Gal." As you can see, the album is pieced together from a variety of sessions in different locations, resulting in a patchwork set that, despite many excellent and above all enthusiastic performances, never quite gels. Like the collage of pictures on the back cover, this is more a scrapbook of Bishop playing with his pals and acquaintances than a focused project, but there is enough quality music here to attract established fans, even if this isn't the place to generate new ones. ~ Hal Horowitz minimize