Artist:     Albert Cummings

Album:     Believe

Label:     Provogue Records

Release Date:     2.14.2020

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Any album that kicks off with a blistering blast of the old Sam & Dave Stax classic, “Hold On” can’t be bad. And as a scene-setter, US blues-rock guitarist Albert Cummings hits the pace from the opening few bars. Working through the number, Cummings’ vocals show deep soulful understanding near-perfectly partnered by some top-notch fretwork and a stinging vintage feel and vibe that highlights the guy’s clear love of old-school-blues often coupled with a Memphis undercurrent at its heart.

Cummings is no newcomer and has been working the blues-rock world for many years now but with Believe he successfully shrugs his often overlooked musical persona aside to surface as a clearly fully paid-up bluesman with plenty to say.

The project was created in the famed, fabled Alabama Muscle Shoals studios with Grammy-winning producer Jim Gaines on board. Gaines is a blues heavyweight having previously worked with giants like Santana and the now-revered late bluesman, Stevie Ray Vaughan, among countless others. There can be little doubt that Gaines’ input is central to the overall quality of the album and when Cummings rips into the Willie Dixon classic, “Red Rooster,” it’s hard not to reckon that Gaines’ print is everywhere, with Cummings delivering a slower-paced but electrifying performance with an otherwise overplayed, often overcooked old standard.

Believe finds Cummings picking and singing his way through a variety of modern musical genres, slipping easily and assuredly from blues through soul to blasting rock, with his guitar always pulsing powerfully alongside his passionate vocals.

Almost anyone with an interest in electric blues music is likely to genuinely enjoy this album and bound to find more than enough material here to satisfy their blues-tinged longings.

—Iain Patience