As this album goes, its opening track says it all. “Hot as a Pistol” is a perfect descriptor for Jim Byrnes on Everywhere West, an incredible blues album. Produced by Steve Dawson, this is a wild ride, displaying Byrnes’s gritty vocals and guitar licks that blend compositions with legendary giants such as Robert Johnson, Louis Jordan and Lowell Folsom.
Byrnes’s take on Jimmy Reed’s “Take Out Some Insurance on Me,” for example, is like having Reed's ghost in the room — the combination of Steve Dawson and Byrnes proves to be magical. Dawson appears as arranger or instrumentalist on almost every track, and occasionally (“No Mail Blues,” “You Can't Get That Stuff No More”) he appears on vocals, as well. The result? Seamless, rough-and-tumble old-school blues. Get this one for your collection.
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