My Blues

Back in the 1980s, Kim Wilson was merely one member of the Fabulous Thunderbirds, a quartet that was as much a showcase for its never-waste-a-note guitarist Jimmie Vaughan as it was for its lead singer and harmonica player. But the rest of the T-Birds exited during the early '90s, and now the T-Birds are Wilson and anyone he hires for a particular album or tour. Their most recent studio outing, with co-producers Steve Jordan and Danny Kortchmar, leans toward their own backgrounds more than the scrappier blues of the past.

Happily, Kim Wilson's 1997 solo album, My Blues, tilts the blues-rock formula decidedly in the opposite direction. The rhythm on this project--built around acoustic piano, acoustic bass, and a small drum kit--is light and swinging, evoking the jazzy blues of pianists Roy Milton and Roosevelt Sykes more than the blues-rock of the T-Birds. The 15 songs feature two compositions apiece by Milton, Sykes, Little Walter, and Wilson as well as blues standards by Jerry McCain, Eddie Boyd, and Sonny Boy Williamson. These understated performances revive a bygone era quite enjoyably but they lack the modern ambitions of the best Thunderbirds recordings. --Geoffrey Himes