Paul Cowley has graced these pages several times usually at the pen of our late friend David Harley. His latest album, Long Shadow, continues his exploration of the sound of Delta blues with eight original tracks and covers of Skip James, Fred McDowell and Willie Dixon. Paul does most of the work with support from the harmonica of Robert Venables on one track and occasional lap steel, bass and drums from Pascal Ferrari.
The opener, ‘Time’, begins with a fragile sounding picked guitar but Paul settles into a firmer groove with ‘Big Hitter’ with steel decorating a chunky guitar followed by ‘Old Man’ featuring the blues harp moaning alongside. James’ ‘Crow Jane’ is quite lively given that its subject is the planning and execution of a murder and it changes the mood of the album briefly although the title track brings the misery back. I particularly like ‘First Born’ for its guitar sound but it is topped by ‘Dirt Poor’ with its changing styles. It’s another up-tempo track contrasted by the slow, melancholy ‘Once In A While’ ‘Where Are You Now’ features Ferrari’s lap steel which almost submerges Paul’s vocals which is a shame.
The final two tracks are covers beginning with Fred McDowell’s ‘Train I Ride’ which opens with the familiar “This train I ride is sixteen coaches long” while Paul’s guitar chugs in the bass and sings like electricity in the wires over the top. Willie Dixon’ slightly sleazy ‘Same Thing’ gets an appropriate arrangement that creeps along while Paul sings about tight dresses and evening gowns.
Paul’s particular skill lies in matching his arrangements to the lyrics. Long Shadow is no exception and I must confess that I like my blues to be sparse and laid back like this. I have no desire to go to Chicago.
Dai Jeffries
Artist’s website: www.paulcowleymusic.com
‘Once In A While’ – official video:
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