This seasoned Canadian artist from Winnipeg maintains that his seventh release is not a straight-ahead blues album but he could have fooled me.
Even though it contains more of his own songs than on his previous releases it is still firmly rooted in the music of artists such as Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, and Elmore James.
It was recorded with a full band built around a nucleus of producer Steve Dawson on multiple stringed instruments, Jeremy Holmes and Gary Craig on bass and drums respectively, and Chris Gestrin on piano and organ The addition of a full horn section creates a celebratory feel best exemplified in the raucous All Day Party.
McClean has what is called a "bellowing, prairie storm of a voice" and he enthusiastically applies this to the three cover tracks: Chess Records’ classic Just To Be With You (made famous by Muddy Waters), J.B. Lenoir's Voodoo Music and The Allman Brothers' Midnight Rider.
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His nine compositions remain unashamedly in old school territory affirming the sentiment of Songs of the Blues, that the spirit of the blues music contains "a soul that will never die".
The emphasis on hard livin' and lovin' means that redemption is a long way off. As he points out bluntly in You've Been Told, life ends with three destinations: the morgue, the grave and the burning gates of hell.
The sound is deliberately rough and ready to capture a live in the studio feel. It ain't pretty, sophisticated or woke, but if you like your blues uncooked and down to earth Big Dave could be your man.
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