Reviewed by Tony Cummings

Since their discovery in the late '80s by the white blues and folk crowd Sherman and Wendell Holmes and Popsy Dixon have found a worldwide audience for their gritty, timeless musical synthesis which brings together the sound of old school gospel quartets, roadhouse blues and lashings of soul. Like previous albums this latest set was produced by Joan "What If God Was One Of Us" Osborne and like its predecessors concentrates on the earthy appeal of Sherman and Wendell's voices as the rasp and holler through their own gutsy compositions interspersed with covers of Lennon and McCartney ("I'll Be Back") and ancient R&B balladeer Johnny Ace ("Pledging My Love"). Standout tracks on this album are "Feed My Soul" with lyrics like "I know we've been through a lot/Sometimes we've had, sometimes have not" expresses an obvious comprehension and appreciation of life's situations be they good or bad while "Rounding The Third" with its chugging rhythm makes your foot tap away and your head nod almost involuntarily. Wendell's guitar work isn't quite up their with BB but it's still fiery and satisfying while the Hammond B3 from Glenn Patscha seems to come straight from a Muscle Shoals session. If you enjoyed the band's previous 10 albums you won't be disappointed with this set.

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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