Watch This
Colin Dussault and his Blues Project Band
Erica Records 1205

Colin Dussault and the current line up of his Blues Project Band have been together for a while now, and they keep reaching new milestones both with their live shows and recordings. Their latest CD Watch This has hit the stores and Internet and is another solid effort, a mix of standards and a few originals featuring a who’s who of the Cleveland blues scene.

There are many highlights on the disc, starting with the first track, the band’s tribute to a legend “Blues for Robert Lockwood Jr.”, which features the man himself with a couple of pretty impressive guitar solos. Not bad for a 90 year old kid.

Most of the rest of the disc is filled with some of the many standards from the different genres of music that Dussault and his band feature in their live shows. Probably the biggest surprise is their cover of the Etta James’ “At Last” which features Dussault’s soulful voice, Greg Hurd’s beautiful piano, and Jim Feeney’s weeping guitar. Another surprise is their rendition of the blue grass standard “Rocky Top,” which has Dussault going overtime on his harmonica. The boys visit 1930’s jazz with Duke Ellington’s “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore”; party blues, of course, with “Let the Good Times Roll/Hey Bartender” (which has another awesome Jim Feeney guitar solo) and “Sitting at the Bar”; do a wonderful version (complete with bagpipes) of the Scottish folk song “Loch Lomond”; feature Hurd’s terrific piano again on Randy Newman’s “Guilty”; and pay tribute to the late great Ray Charles in more than respectable cover of “Georgia on My Mind.”

Dussault gets political with his version of Steve Goodman’s “City of New Orleans,” which he refits with new lyrics and news sound bites to express his observations on the reaction of the federal government to Hurricane Katrina and its destruction in New Orleans.

Through it all is Dussault’s one of a kind harmonica playing and a strong bass line featuring local music veterans Fred Tobey and Rick Fischer. Amongst those making guest appearances on the album besides the aforementioned Mr. Lockwood include blues divas Mary Bridget Davies and Betty Boyd, Al Moss of Hillbilly Idol on pedal steel, and a bit of slide guitar from Austin “Walkin’ Cane” Charanghat. Also making her “debut” with the band is Dee Perry of WCPN public radio in Cleveland, who lends her beautiful narration to the CD’s bonus track “The Story of Loch Lamond.”

As always with all Colin Dussault Blues Project Recordings, everything is first rate, from the performances to the recording to the packaging. Another must for old and new fans alike, Watch This is really good and highly recommended. For more information and an appearance schedule, check out http://www.ColinDussault.com. From Cool Cleveland contributor Greg Cielec cielecAThotmail.com (:divend:)