Keepin' it together

"There's no moldy-fig reverence on display - the material is original, and the principals throw themselves into it with the vigor of artists celebrating the music in the present tense, not as backward-looking exercise in purism ... Neither Stroger nor Smith is primarily known as a singer, but they both demonstrate admirable vocal chops, handling even the most challenging extended lines with effortless panache ... The "true" postwar Chicago blues is not a museum piece, but a thriving, relevant art form. These musicians make that clear with every note they play and sing".