Greg Prevost: Songs For These Times

Greg Prevost never hides who or what his early influences were. They include five Brit Brats who journeyed to the blues fountainhead of Chess/Chicago/USA in 1964. When Prevost eventually slammed the garage door on his long lived band, The Chesterfield Kings, he turned his eyes back to the prize of the Chicago and Delta blues. Continuing a solo blues recording journey that started in the early 2010s, he used a domestic studio to record his third solo album and basically eschewed any instruments that relied on electricity. This straight up acoustic set, with help from Alex Patrick riding a National Steel and other instruments, gives us Prevost's raw voice, a few guitars, a banjo and a wailing harp. As basic as delta dirt.

Much of the success of the disc grows out of the seamless merging of Prevost originals with either public domain cuts or decades' old blues numbers. Songs of leaving or hitting the road can grow out of disillusionment, rootlessness, severed ties to people or places or simply because a drifter wants to wander, search and discover. Songs such as "Free as The Wind," "Distant Thunder," "One To Seven" and "I Hear You Knockin'" are variations on stories that started centuries ago. As Prevost announces in "I Hear You...," (the only cover out of these four cuts) he's got his suitcase, his ticket and he ain't planning on coming back. These missives join other vintage songs including "Tell Me Baby" (Big Bill Broonzy) and "Death Don't Have No Mercy" (Reverend Gary Davis.) There's even a nod to folk/rock icon Donovan as Prevost presents a brisk, acoustic version of "Colours."

The album opens with a blast of bitter blues via "Free as The Wind" and closes with a brief breeze (under two minutes) called "Acid Rain Falling." And, on a technical note, yeah, it's mostly the blues as inspired by the ancient sounds of nearly a century ago but these vocals are crisp and clean and, unlike a few times from his garage days, you're not digging into the LP sleeve in search of a lyric sheet. It may be sparse but Prevost is right there in the room with you spiritualizin,' snarlin' and occasionally spittin.'