Like Taj Mahal, Keb Mo and Corey Harris, Eric Bibb is in that lineage of educated bluesmen who sound downhome and utterly authentic: this is despite him growing up in New York, having John Lewis of the Modern Jazz Quartet as anuncle, and studying psychology at Columbia University.
In his teens Bibb, 55, went to Europe, learned the blues and finger-picking, and was discovered by - by international musicians in the burgeoning world music scene. This intimate outing on 12-string acoustic, with a small but instrumentally diverse band opens and closes with the sound of a needle on vinyl, and between times he sings original material in a country blues style, delivers fine gospel-tinged blues, finds the chipper beat in Dylan's Buckets of Rain, and the traditional Worried Man Blues. Yet everything a has a concise pop quality, and memorable choruses.
He sounds like he is right there on your back porch somewhere in the Delta. And he's a very welcome guest.
Verdict: Oldtime blues given a contemporary spin, and vice versa
