Shine Eyed Mister Zen

Mmmm. He's gone and done it again. Dotted his i's and crossed his t's with little more than a guitar and a pair of vocal chords that must have been hatched somewhere between Sonny Boy Williamson's chest cavity and John Lee Hooker's pelvis. He may not have the luxury of a kosher bluesman's christian name, but what he lacks in family inheritance he makes up for by the bucketload in gut feeling.

Kelly Joe Phelps trumpeted his revival with the peerless 1997 debut, Roll Away The Stone. This was low-down, acoustic blues played with an urgency and appetite that's fast disappearing from the circuit.

Now Shine Eyed Mister Zen is yet another reminder of the man's finesse. Content with the tone set by his debut, Phelps doesn't try to pretty up the music with the candyfloss of the recording studio. Indeed he seems to revel in stripping it as bare as he possibly can, hammocking muffled vocals in nothing more than that impeccably picked guitar.

With seven pure-bred original tracks and four covers (or traditional songs given the Phelps treatment), Shine Eyed Mister Zen reveals a man whose belly aches for Louisiana, even if his suitcase is in Shepard's Bush or Stonybatter.

'Wandering Away' is a regret-tinged tale of love gone awry that's the blues equivalent of the Irish air, only this time the hurt is more immediate, the scars more graphic. 'River Rat Jimmy' is a storytelling revival that'd put Garrison Keiller in the ha'penny place, and 'Piece By Piece' is a carnal conurbation of blues harp, guitar and vocals that makes you want to wince and moan at one and the same time.

And as for his treatment of 'Goodnight Irene', well it's like 12-year-old Jameson. It gets better and better with every listen, and it's as breathtaking a reinterpretation of the original as you could ever wish to encounter outside of a Lomax collection. Magnificent.

Invite Kelly Joe Phelps into your company and you'll wonder what life was ever like before he came along to colour and shade it. Just so.