Blues Now is a full-length set by raucous Boston blues trio GA-20 and blues harmonicist and singer Charlie Musselwhite. Stubbs served as his touring guitarist for a decade. Blues Now is a rowdy, raw, swaggering set that exists as a full collaboration. In early 2025, Stubbs and Musselwhite reunited and booked six days in a Boston studio. Their intention: to apply the trio's trademarked two-guitar attack (Stubbs and Cody Nilsen, who also sings) and drums (Josh Kiggans) to Musselwhite's 1968 debut album Stand Back without trying to remake it. The music here consists of nine covers by blues statesmen, two of them redone versions of tunes from the 1968 album.
The opener is a cover of Willie Dixon's Buddy Guy vehicle "Crazy Love." Nilsen claims the lead vocal as the Chicago blues swagger and slip groove is led by Musselwhite's wailing harp and Stubbs' killer fills and soloing -- this quartet can really play and innovate on a turnaround. One can tell by the slide guitar vamp that this tune was cut by Elmore James; it too was written by Dixon in 1960 and is best known by the title "Talk to Me Baby." Musselwhite claims the lead vocal with authority ("Talk trash to me baby"...) adding roiling fills between sung lines. The two singers join on the electrifying shuffle that is Tampa Red's "Big Stars Falling," with bashing guitars, in the pocket drums, and spooky harmonica. The quartet speeds things up on Earl Hooker's showcase 1960 instrumental "Universal Rock," tying bumping Chicago blues to urban rockabilly. It not only stomps, it swings as Stubbs lays down lines of inspired licks; the band adds heft, depth, and energetic encouragement. Otis Spann's slow but devastating "Blues Will Never Die" is sung beautifully by Musselwhite. His harmonica interacts with the guitarists, often line by line, coming together in steamy heat and passion. The set's lone original is "Strange Land," penned by Musselwhite and recorded for Stand Back. This version is no less intense, but displays the wisdom of time in both the singing and choogling, razor-wire groove. Speaking of groove, Nilsen delivers Eddie Taylor's lyrics on "Stroll Out West" with soul and grit atop a wooly, thrumming stomp. Given the role Muddy Waters played in Musselwhite's life, his "Short Dress Woman" is only right. He sings it with wildness and joy as the band delivers a raucous, intense I-IV-V shuffle complete with slide solo by Stubbs. "Cristo Redentor" is an oft-covered jazz tune by Duke Pearson; the harmonicist has been playing and reinventing it live for six decades. It's delivered here with empathy, slow burning beauty, and spiritual intensity in abundance; his soloing, followed by Stubbs' slide break, is peerless. Blues Now sounds like a party in studio. It gets down to roots immediately and stays deep in the blues zone without resorting to hero worship cliches or revivalism. It belongs next to Muddy Waters and Johnny Winter's Hard Again and the Red Devils' King King.
| GA-20 Primary Artist |
