Sheesham and Lotus and 'son
Album: 1929 - The New Kings Of Old Time
Label: Sepiaphone
Tracks: 12
Website: http://www.sheeshamandlotus.com

Lovingly recorded in authentic mono "live off the floor with one North of Princess G7 microphone", this brings the vital, fun-giving music of the depression era (à-la-Mississippi Sheiks) straight into your homes and brings a permanent smile to the grimmest visage. If your kind of bag is "real deal" ragtime, hoedowns and stomps played with all the chutzpah of the era, then this Canadian outfit with real mud on their boots will be just what the medicine show ordered. They'll be a hell of a hoot live too, but even on disc you'd be exceeding hard put to resist the high-steppin' energy of this brilliant combo, who (it must be admitted) make a mighty sound for a mere three-piece. Step forward then: the raw, rustic fiddle of Sheesham Crow (who also plays harmonica, whistles a bit on Lazy Lazy River and does a positively delicious line in rough-hewn kazoo - and I never thought I'd use that "d" word to describe that instrument!), the clanking rhythmic tenor and five-string banjos of Lotus Wright, and the glorious pointedly galumphing sousaphone of Son Sanderson.

All is set into due context with gruff, gritty vocals where you can taste the barroom liquor without going over the top - sample the ultra-woozy delights of Drunken Nights for starters, but established standards such as Georgia Crawl and Keep It Clean and even Viola Lee Blues emerge into the spotlight with considerable credit in what I'd class top-flight renditions, full of rhythmic vitality and joyous elan, the furthest from tired retreads you could imagine, and the trio's deliriously upwardly-paced take on Frankie & Johnny will revive even the most jaded palette. Instrumentally too, SL&S score real highly, and we're treated to absolutely cracking versions of Cow Cow Davenport's Jackson Stomp and Daniel Williams' little-known Mineola Rag.

Records in this genre rarely get past first base when coming round to a year's best-of lists, but this exceptional disc, originally issued in its homeland back in 2012, is likely to be an honourable exception. For this record is a shining example of just how no-frills revivalist grass-roots old-time should be done, and it's a sublime feelgood tonic from start to finish. I really can't get enuff - so hey, let's play it again!

David Kidman