
Riverhead Slide and Friends: After All These Years
By Bruce Morley
Riverhead Slide have indeed been around for a while and deserve to be more widely known. On this fourth album, core band members Steve Wigz (guitar/vocals), Pete Ludlow (drums) and Murray Finer (bass) take to a variety of blues standards and Wigz’s originals with the ease of seasoned veterans. Guest appearances from ex-Sliders and friends such as Richard Hall (keyboards) and Keri Betts (harp) permeate the album and move it away (a little) in style from the band’s previous, more stripped-back ‘Naked Blues’ album. From Wigz’s opening dobro solo to guest vocalist Gael Ludlow’s cool late-night take on I’d Rather Go Blind, there’s some damn fine playing here. Wigz’s informative and wry liner notes are also a delight: “We only ever did want to play the blues you know. That was what Riverhead Slide was all about when we started messing about in 1989, and it’s what Riverhead Slide is all about now...” There’s a warmth and joy here, ‘happy blues’ at its best, recorded and mixed at Wildrecords by Aron Neale (another player deserving of more recognition). Available through www.riverheadslide.com
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