THE MANNISH BOYS "SHAKE FOR ME" Source: Juke Joint Soul Date: 07/2010 Writer: Ben the Harpman

It's hard to believe that its been five years since The Mannish Boys jumped on the scene out on the West Coast. Uniting some often overlooked veteran talent with some young blood studio blues musicians, Randy Chortkoff found his number one blues project for his then beginning blues label. Flash forward five years later and Delta Groove is one of the largest and best recognized labels for roots, blues-rock, and blues in the country; putting its name in the company of Blind Pig and Alligator as far as status is concerned. It is brought attention back to the legends and veterans in the likes of Bobby Jones, Finis Tasby and Johnny Dyer. It has become a musical second home for hepcats like Kirk Fletcher, Frank Goldwasser, and Kid Ramos. In the end, you've got a formula of old school that's so fresh and so clean that it's hard to believe that it just keeps getting better with each subsequent release.

Some old warhorses from blues' past and present get some reworking: Johnny "Guitar" Watson's "Too Tired," Lowell Fulson's "Reconsider Baby," a medley of Bo Diddley and Johnny Otis with "Mona/Willie and The Hand Jive," Ray Charles' "Hey Now," and Muddy Waters' "Champagne and Reefer." They all get fresh updates that are pleasible and need to remain, when done right, in the contemporary blues fan's ear. Bobby Jones and Finis Tasby handle most of the vocals here and are fine. The new Delta Groove edition in Arthur Adams and Frank "Paris Slim" Goldwasser are the other notable vocalists appear. Goldwasser's nearly perfect immitation of Tarheel Slim's "Number Nine Train" is a gem! Everything else here is in place for continued, consistent greatness in the realms of classic blues and R&B. The Mannish Boys continue to reinvent tradition by selecting material that's not a cliche. Whereas some "cover" bands fall into beating an already decayed and decrepit horse, The Mannish Boys are out on the field pumping it full of life. Like only a select few who fall under the "traditional" mantle, The Mannish Boys continue to push it into the future so the public and the contemporary blues scene won't forget where the music came from.