Elvin Bishop Source: C.W.’s Place Date: 09/2008 Writer: C.W. Ross

Elvin Bishop is an elder statesman in the music scene with over 45 years of experience. Elvin's back with the follow up to his 2005 release, Gettin' My Groove Back, with the new release, The Blues Rolls On.

On this latest release Elvin has surrounded himself with an all-star cast of fellow blues musicians that include, B.B. King, James Cotton, Derek Trucks, Warren Haynes, Tommy Castro, Angela Strehli, John Nemeth, and George Thorogood. Along with the Homemade Jamz Blues Band, Ronnie Baker Brooks, R.C. Carrier and Andre Thierry.

Two things that I like about The Blues style of music are:

1- Unlike a lot of other genres where people are always looking for the next big talent and aging is thought of as a bad thing with The Blues older artist and the genres past are both respected and celebrated.

2- Unlike musical genres that are always looking to get their songs cut down to a radio friendly time The Blues artist let their music flow free and aren't worried about cutting parts out to make their songs a certain time length.

You'll get to hear both of the above facts when you listen to, The Blues Rolls On. The songs are loaded with Blues royalty and songs that are filled with guitar parts that are let to run free without any time restraints.

To highlight songs from this release would be difficult because they're all great in their own way, but if I had to pick a few, one would be, track-1, the title cut, "The Blues Rolls On." This song sets the tone for the rest of the release with its harmonica, and guitar filled notes and talks about how The Blues have been here before us, and will be here after we're gone, along with talking about the music being, 'real life set to music.'

Another song highlight is track-4, "Struttin' My Stuff," it's different from the rest of the album and has a 70's rock with a touch of a funk/soul sound found on it.

Track-5, "Keep a Dollar in You Pocket," features B.B. King, need I say any thing else?

Track-7, "Black Girl," is another one that you don't want to miss hearing.The song mixes Zydeco and The Blues to create an accordion (Andre Thierry) and rub-board (R.C. Carrier) filled song that really hits the mark.

Track-8, "Oklahoma," is another great track. The song is simple with just Elvin Bishop and his guitar but the song really works as Elvin tells the story of his life to overdriven guitar music.

Track-11, "Send You Back to Georgia," is a very guitar rich song featuring George Thorogood.

Track-12 wraps it up with the instrumental, "Honest I Do," a harmonica rich song that's a nod to Jimmy Reed. It also has great cymbal crashes found in it.

Like I said earlier it was going to be heard for me to pick just one or two songs that I liked.

If you have even a miniscule interest in The Blues style of music then you need to get, The Blues Rolls On, and travel to the land of Blue's Nirvana.