Corey Harris, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Guy Davis – Fight On! True Blues Vol. 2
9 tracks 27 minutes
This is the sequel to the 2013 debut album by Guy Davis, Corey Harris, and Alvin Youngblood Hart which stemmed from their meeting at the 1996 Chicago Blues Fest. It took 13 years, but now volume 2 in on the books and it is a fine album. These self-proclaimed saviors of the blues deliver three songs apiece solo; it’s not a collaboration of talents but more of a collaboration of kindred spirits as they each give us some beautiful originals and covers to enjoy.
Recorded both in Virginia and New York City, the album begins with Corey Harris’s title song “Fight On” where he adapts an old banjo tune into Piedmont blues. The fingerpicking is delightfully pure and Harris delivers a powerful story with his vocal work. Charley Patton’s “Screamin’ and Hollerin’ The Blues” is the first Patton song Alvin Youngblood Hart learned as a teenage and he delivers it with true feeling. He sings with passion and plays his guitar while knocking out a groove; well done! Then it’s “See Me When You Can,” a song Guy Davis wrote long ago for his grandmother as he spent time on the road. The song is spoken from his grandmother’s perspective, a plea to him to do as the title says. It’s a heartfelt piece delivering with love and compassion.
Next is “What’s That I Smell.” This one is a song Harris wrote about an old bar he used to play in in NOLA, the Funky Butt. He plays, sings and sniffs in this colorful cut. “If the Blues Was Money” is a Youngblood Hart original inspired by Henry Townsend. Alvin’s vocals howl and his picking is inspired. Then it’s “Deep Sea Diver,” a delightful original by Davis where he tells the story of Papa Jack/Handsome Jack Lodi who uses double entReverend endres to tell how he pleased his women.
“I Belong To the Band” follows, a Reverend Gary Davis song that Harris makes his own. Powerful vocals make this one special. Fred McDowell’s “Highway 61” is performed by Youngblood Hart. He learned the song from David “Honeyboy” Edwards who he gigged with before Honeyboy passed. Alvin lived along the highway in several places, so it’s sort of a biographical cover for him and it’s well done. The album wraps up with Guy Davis and “Everything I Go Is done In Pawn.” This is an adaptation and expansion of Elizabeth Cotten’s “Shake Sugaree” and he picks out the tune with a forceful and emotive manner. He bemoans his financial woes and interactions with the pawnshop in this slick finale to the CD.
If you aRe an acoustic blues fan, this is something you need to add to your collection. If you are new to acoustic music, these three guys provide a primer in how the genre remains alive today that you can learn from. Harris, Youngblood Hart and Davis are superb keepers of the flame and truly are (as they have claimed in the past) “saviors of the blues.” Go get this. You won’t be sorry!
