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Hard Workin' Man
EllerSoul
Born in 1988 in Richmond, Virginia, Andrew Alli delivers a straight-ahead, no-frills collection of harmonica blues. Recorded at Jon Atkinson's Bigtone Studio, this is old-school blues in the vein of Little Walter and George "Harmonica" Smith. Backing Alli's vocals and harmonica are Atkinson on guitar and bass, Danny Michel on guitar, Carl Sonny Leyland on piano, and Devin Neel or Buddy Honeycutt on drums.
There is a no-nonsense quality to Alli's blues, starting with the title track where he proclaims with his robust tenor that he is a hard-working man and lays down some raw, amplified harmonica. This song is followed by a tight instrumental, "AA Boogie," and an excellent interpretation of George 'Harmonica' Smith's "Good Things, with biting guitar fills and cohesive rhythm. "Walter's Sun," is an instrumental performed in the manner of the recordings Walter Horton made for Sun Records and the Modern label before he moved to Chicago. Then there is Alli's original "30 Long Years," where he sings about being in this town for 30 years, but it feels like he has to break out. Alli lays down some chromatic harmonica on the rollicking instrumental "Chron-A-Thick," delivers a brisk tempo shuffle, "Easy Going Fellow," and solidly covers Little Walter's "One More Chance."
With strong originals and the complimentary backing provided for Andrew Alli's strong singing and robust harmonica, "Hard Workin' Man" is a splendid debut album.
I received my review copy from Ellersoul Records. Here is a brief preview of this recording.
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