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Quotes

"Fantastic"
Paul Jones, BBC Radio 2

"Righteous stuff"
Joel McIver, Classic Rock's The Blues magazine

"Played a sublime set...certainly revved the crowd up"
Russell Hill, Maverick Magazine

"One rock-solid tune after another... strongly recommended"
Marty Gunther, Blues Blast Magazine

"Impressive guitar"
Trevor Hodgett, R2 Magazine

"This is sunshine music"
Bluesdoodle.com

"Made In Mississippi is a belter of an album. Mark Cole and Rick Edwards, do not just "play" the Blues, they "feel" it too. This gives them the edge over many of their contemporaries.....they could easily find themselves being lauded as Britain's Jelly Roll Kings."
Gordon Baxter Blues in Britain magazine

"Raw, righteous,..the real Delta deal."
Leslie Fleury (Radio DJ, Blues Odyssey on KSER)

"You guys are the real deal!"
Will Dawson (sound engineer at Delta Recording Studio, Clarksdale, Mississippi)

"I really liked those Elmore James numbers - you got 'that tone' just right"
Kent DuChaine

"You guys have really got a good little unit there... I thought that was pretty darn good - you don't have to take a back seat to anybody"
Sonny 'Sunshine' Payne (legendary presenter of King Biscuit Time on Radio KFFA, Helena, Arkansas)

"They give you the spirit and essence that is required and deliver with belief...their playing is indeed atmospheric and complimentary and will get you tapping your feet at the appropriate times...more please guys!"
Blues Matters Magazine

"They are exceptional"
John Roberts (Bullfrog Blues Club promoter)

What better to open the session than a blues milestone, planted in the mid '50s by Howling Wolf, 'Smokestack Lightnin'', with bass line and rhythm laid by Rick as Mark takes care of harp and his usual 'easy' approach to the vocals. Just enough grit in a smoked shell. A bit of Americana is slipped in, courtesy of Steve Earl's 'Hardcore Troubadour' before the blues core is unlocked with 'Key to the Highway', fingerpicking its way across country.

This delightful 'pick 'n mix' is a long way from being purist blues. One of my favourite quirky songs slips in, Tom Waits' 'Chocolate Jesus', arguably laid plain to the blues world by Beth Hart, but here performed with dark, burnt coffee grounds, overtones, a good 85% blend if not quite making the raw edged uncut bean level. Twin guitars bring out the distinctive sounds of 'Boogie Chillun', Rick remains silent letting his fingers do the talking, Mark infills with additional promo material for peppers, the pulsating boogie continues. Six minutes of the Hooker groove lead us into the high ground of hillbilly territory and 'Tom Ames Prayer' which gallops along quite nicely with plent of fast finger work.

A hefty but tightly bound parcel of 'The Weight' is beautifully packaged and put aside for Chuck Berry, who presented us with his 'Thirteen Question Method'. Not sure how that worked out for Chuck but Rick on slide makes fine work of decorating the song as Mark called the questions.

The fast moving ragtime of 'Skinnybone' encourages getting up to hit the dance floor, Mark dropping the lyrics to breath into his harp before the song pushes on over the labyrinth of Rick's finger work.

The whole of this album, on Rawtone Records, is nicely recorded. The sound is clean but still contains elements of the audience presence. As you would expect, fine musicianship is here in abundance with Rick's guitar work throughout, layered over with Mark's harp, guitar and vocals. Mark has that distinctive, crunchy peanut butter and marmite voice. Don't fret, it's a great pairing in this little gem. Maybe add some red hot peppers, it's the next best thing to a live performance.

Graham Munn, Blues in Britain magazine.

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