Nick Moss & The Flip Tops – Sadie Mae

Nick Moss is the best thing to happen to Chicago blues in a month of Blue Mondays, and Sadie Mae (his fourth album) is his best yet. The kid from the burbs learned the music the way youre supposed to apprenticing with Jimmy Dawkins, Legendary Blues Band and Jimmy Rogers before going solo in 1998 and he exudes poise, savvy and authority well beyond his nearly 36 years. On these twelve originals, his writing grows more personal while still sticking to the universal blues truisms. His voice is robust and shaded emotionally, while his phrasing is uncanny. Whether playing rhythm or lead, his incisive guitar work is solidly in the tradition of 1950s Chicago, updated just enough to give him his own distinct style. Just as critical, his swinging band plays like a group of interacting musicians, each working off what the others are doing. They can be dazzling soloists in their own right; check out Gerry Hundts wailing, echo-laden harmonica on their version of Lefty Dizzs If I Could Get My Hands on You. The album has the vibrant feel of something cut live in the studio, whether it was or not.