Norman Blake --one of our heroes --can always be counted on for his honest treatment of old-time tunes and songs (and he's also written some classics), and here he presents 18 of them in simple, straightforward fashion, sharing the proceedings with his long time friend and fellow Georgian Tut Taylor. According to the credits Nancy Blake is also featured, but we'd like to hear more of her on the disc --especially her lovely cello work, which always provides a nice texture to their music. Truthfully, I find this album a bit too laid back and informal to be as enjoyable as most of the Blakes' earlier records for Flying Fish, Rounder and Shanachie. Several tunes are painfully slow and listless, lacking the energy we'd expect from this trio. GOING TO GEORGIA, WORRIED BLUES, TAG RAILROAD RAG, LIZZIE HUBBARD BLUES, ODE TO BASCOM, STEEL GUITAR BLUES, etc.
