Little G. Weevil
Moving
Vizztone Label Group
If you came across this record, pressed on 78, while crate digging in some roadside junk shop, upon first listen you’d swear you had found some previously unknown 1930s blues phenom à la Charlie Patton or Bukka White. The opener, “Shook It and Broke It,” with its sharp-as-nails resonator guitar and Weevil’s vocals, has that no-nonsense, way-down-low feel of the greats, but he’s not a mimic, far from it. Little G. Weevil creates his blues as natural and authentic as they come, and for that, is a revelation amid the cookie cutter “Bluz 101” screamers these days.
The album moves from raspy, gritty, solo slide guitar to the laid-back, John Lee Hooker grooves of “Mean and Dirty” or the old-time stomp of a cigar box guitar on “Advice,” and it all sounds pure, natural, and fresh. “No Man in My Bed” is a swaggering romp that showcases Weevil’s nimble slide work, and the record sounds as if you were hearing it on a street corner, live and off the cuff – the way you’d have heard Blind Willie McTell playing for tips on the streets of Atlanta back in the ’40s and ’50s.
Moving ends with the aptly named “Swing in the Middle,” with Maurice Nazzaro’s harp trading licks with Weevil’s guitar, rockin’ indeed. This is Little G. Weevil’s third album, and you can bet I’m gonna pick up the other two. And if you got the blues in your soul, you should too. Like right now.
