Just under an hour of sublime playing and singing – considering that Matt Woosey has been around for five or so years I am surprised that I hadn’t heard him before and really pleased to find a new artist to enjoy.
His slide playing on ‘Black Smoke Risin’ is fine but his vocal style is powerful and strident with a touch of irony about it. With Jim Williams drumming and Adji Shuib on bass they make a terrific noise and kick the album off to a great start. ‘Cruel Disposition’ takes the tone down a little and shows that he can write a good melody and lyrics that cut to the bone – thios is not anodyne Blues or typical playing in any way.
What makes this rather special is the sheer originality of his playing and singing – he is treading a familiar path but he seems to have his own voice and style and that is rare enough today.
There are folk touches to his playing but they are there to add texture rather than confusing his style and he mixes in the different modes with no sense of copying or of slavish following anyone else’s style.
The jaunty ‘Noah’ or the delicious slide on ‘Woke Up This Morning’ show that he understands how to take the listener to different places and the rocking finale of ‘Dopey Mick’ and its gratuitous drum solo actually comes as a bit of a shock but I kept going back to ‘Cruel Disposition’ as the best number on the album and smiling all over again.
He is a fresh talent and a real find; I’ll be keeping an ear out for him in the future.
