Search - Bob Margolin :: In North Carolina

This Muddy Waters Band veteran's laconic singing and sweet-toned guitar on numbers like "Tears of Rage" give In North Carolina a graceful, relaxed quality--at least until Margolin comes charging in with the whinnying slide style he learned from Muddy or chomps down on a high-energy shuffle like Waters's "Lonely Man Blues." Either way, the debut album for his own Steady Rollin' label is literally a down-home affair. He describes the mix of 14 new and classic tunes as what he'd play for his wife and pets in their North Carolina house, and it was recorded, with Margolin playing almost all the instruments, not far from his door. The songs are full of vintage guitar sounds and iconic licks, and ricochet from the acoustic ragtime of the double-entendre-packed "You Rascal You" to the purring slide-powered instrumental "Colleen." Although Margolin is the leading exponent of Waters's staccato slide technique, he proves here that he's also adept at mimicking lap- and pedal-steel voices on conventional guitars. And the bonus track is the first recording of one of the excellent short stories he's become known for in blues circles, an emotional tale about a special night in a dingy roadhouse titled "You Never Know." --Ted Drozdowski