Grant Dermody
Album: Sun Might Shine On Me
Label: Self Released
Tracks: 15
Website: http://www.grantdermody.com

This is a blues album with more than a bit of a difference. Grant is Seattle's Buddhist blues harmonica master, no less, and there sure is a spiritual feel to his music. His influences match what he's trying to do in getting his vision across - showing the various ties that bind the blues, whether they be from Appalachian roots or Louisiana cajuns and Creoles, the farming blues or the urban blues. Quite a melting-pot, then - and one which Grant stirs with the help of producer and multi-instrumental maestro Dirk Powell and drawing on a select combo comprising Orville Johnson (guitars), Jockey Etienne (drums), Cedric Watson (fiddle) and Rich Del Grosso (mandolin).

Grant sticks to harmonica and vocals; he's an emotional player, and stamps his personality on every cut, in connecting with the energy of each song on an individual basis (in accordance with Buddhist tenets). As he observes, "you have to be willing to go wherever the song requires you to go" - which means that each song is a change from its predecessor. Obvious really, but there are too many artists who don't get it - the really good thing about Grant's latest album is that he's found in Dirk a soulmate who does get it, and the gentle rapport between the two musicians is strong and enduring.

There's also a good degree of variety in the arrangements and settings, and interest is unlikely to pall over the album's 51-minute span. The rare bouts of soloing are sparing but telling, as on Ain't Goin'Back (where Dirk turns in a brilliant fiddle solo). Idioms are authentically driven too, from straight-down-the-line cajun (J'Ai Passé, Sail Away Ladies), Grant's interpretative transformations of blues classics are anything but tired retreads of familiar grooves. Standouts include Baby Please Don't Go, with its mournful fiddle and mandolin embellishments, and Nehemiah James' Illinois Blues (which somewhat recalls Eric Bibb).

Grant's capable original songs form just over half of the album's tracks, and he turns his hand to gospel (Sun Might Shine), railroad country-blues (Ain't Goin' Back), swamp-soul (Just A Little While) and morose introspection (Long Gone) with equal facility. The easy-rollin', reflective instrumental Crossing Over makes a fine closer to the disc. Understatement is a virtue in Grant's world, and Sun Might Shine's a tasty offering that quietly celebrates this.

David Kidman