Bo Ramsey – Stranger Blues

A steady, grounding, and somewhat ghostly presence on the midwestern blues-rock-folk scene for more than three decades, guitarist Bo Ramsey has etched an enigmatic career arc. He broke out as a frontman with a play-all-night outfit in the ’70s, then meshed heady singer-songwriter aspirations with elastic guitar moves (1991’s Down To Bastrop is an enduring treasure), by which time he’d become so valuable and in-demand as a sideman and producer (with Greg Brown, Lucinda Williams and many others) that his solo presence all but evaporated.

For years, Ramsey’s plan to make a record of covers of his most beloved blues mentors kept getting pushed aside by outside projects. Stranger Blues finally makes it happen, and its subdued presentation — with Ramsey’s dry, Dylanesque vocal delivery and deftly understated, sneaky-cool six-string shadings — underscore why he’s been cited as the “Daniel Lanois of the Plains.”

Fleshed out by the cream of eastern Iowa’s fertile roots mavens (including Greg and Pieta Brown, Joe Price and David Zollo), Stranger Blues eschews high-octane, closing-time bar blues for a languid approach to Elmore James, Little Walter, Jessie Mae Hemphill, Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed, Howlin’ Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson and Elizabeth Cotten that conjures after-hours, between-the-sheets alchemy.