Hard to believe that Mary Stokes and her band have been flying the flag for authentic American urban blues for two decades. Whether belting it out at their long-running Bruxelles residency or at any one of the blues and jazz-fests at home and abroad they’ve built an enviable and fully deserved live following. Their third album presents the current incarnation of the band, with Mary joined by guitarist Paul Lambert, bass player Michael Cleary, drummer Zamo Riffman and of course, Brian Palm on harmonica.
Featuring a mix of classics and originals recorded to capture the band’s live strengths the performances are faultless, Mary’s voice is better than ever and it rarely lets up from the opening title-track, inspired by a trip along the Queens, New York street/avenue of the same name. With stinging slide guitar, ‘Alabama Train’ smoulders while ‘How Can I Leave’ truly smokes, with a guitar solo that would melt the polar ice-caps. They don’t always go by the sometimes strict blues rule-book and a blistering version of Bo Diddley’s ‘Dearest Darling’ unexpectedly morph’s into The Doors’ ‘Break On Thru’ (To The Other Side’) while Billy Boy Arnold’s ‘Wish You Would,’ is cleverly paired with Bob Dylan’s ‘Maggie’s Farm.’
Stirring stuff.