Reviewed by Martin Emerson

Shack Of Peasants is a pick up studio group. But what a group! Headed by Lanny Cordola their ranks include Darrell Mansfield, Crystal Lewis, Phil Bardowell, Fletcher Quigley and Gary Thomas Griffen. The two discs contain covers of a number of well known gospel blues songs plus a few new songs by Lanny Cordola. This album attempts to give something of the feel of the early blues recordings of the '20s and '30s. Even though most of the songs have new arrangements they still succeed in putting over something of the atmosphere of the early blues recordings. The only things missing are the crackles and the deep gravelly lead vocals. The outstanding feature on Vol 1 is the lead vocals of Crystal Lewis on tracks like "Stand By Me" and "Glory Glory Hallelujah". The album is worth buying just for Crystal's vocals. Of the new songs on the albums "Tears Of Faith" is excellent and probably one of Lanny's best songs. The album ends with another new song, "Tribute", which is as it may suggest a tribute to the early gospel blues singers. Though it is hard to classify the new songs as blues they do not feel out of place.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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