Artist: Bob Margolin
Album: This Guitar And Tonight
Label: VizzTone Label Group
Release Date: 10.25.19
When the opening track hit my headphones, my first thought was WOW! if there were needle scratches, pops and a far thinner sound, it would be like a time travel to somebody’ porch in the 1930s. The only thing throwing that thought into the Gowanus Canal, was the fact that the recording of the guitars and voice was flat-out incredible. The guitars, Margolin’s 1930s Gibson L-00, and what sounds like a small-bodied 12 string, tuned up or capoed to concert pitch, are captured the way a guitar really sounds when it is in your lap and everything is going great or perhaps not, including your love life. FYI Jimmy Vivino Is the second guitarist on track 1 with the 12 string or whatever he is using, and follows Margolin like a shadow, or as we used to say out on the bay, “Tighter Than A Crab’s Ass.”
Then Margolin yanks you right out of the roots of the blues era and smack into the present, slapping you upside the head with the opening lyrics to “Evil Walks In Our World,””Fake News, Fake Politicians, Fake Friends, Fake Trolls”all with a reality of someone who has lived and played the blues with all the greats for over half a century.
From there it’s quite a ride and slide over time and space and blues and boogie on this all acoustic or as Margolin’s mentor and band leader Muddy Waters used to call it “Cue Stick” affair. “Dancer’s Boogie” does exactly what it was meant to do .You just can’t sit down—same with“Blues Lover,” that has Bob Corritore joining in on harp.
The closer “Predator” is a historical timeline narration and Margolin’s views on the shitty situation we now find ourselves in. It is as authentic and organic as any blues fan could ever desire. I’d give this winning set a 100, but I wouldn’t want a talent like Bob Margolin to slack off.
—Ken Spooner
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