The album opens with Corey Harris performing "We Are Almost Down To The Shore (Fight On)," a traditional number. This performance has a great, timeless feel, and features some good guitar work. Corey recorded this and his other tracks in Virginia, where he is currently based. This song provides the album with its title, and it has a sudden ending. Alvin Youngblood Hart then gives us "Screamin' And Hollerin' The Blues," a song written by Charley Patton. He delivers a really good rendition, with a strong sense of play, which is perfect. Just listen to the way he sings "If I ever get back home, I won't be around here no more/No, I won't be around" and "No use to screamin' and cryin'/Oh, sugar, you know it ain't no use." One thing I love about these recordings is that they feel like live performances, musicians in the moment, and so it is like we are sharing those moments with them. Alvin Youngblood Hart's tracks were recorded in Mississippi.
Guy Davis performs an original number, "See Me When You Can," a song he included on his 1996 album Call Down The Thunder. There he is backed by a band. Here he performs the song solo, and the track has a great, raw, immediate sound. When he first sings, "Oh, do me a favor/Come on by and see me when you can," we can hear the need in his delivery. "Well, my body's failing, and I can't get around/The next time I leave here, they might carry me down." Oh man, we can feel this as he sings it. So good. Guy Davis recorded his tracks in New York. Corey Harris then gives us an original number, a playful and totally delightful song titled "What's That I Smell." Check out these lines: "I was up on the hill top in a big white house/Had to burn it down 'cause a man ain't a mouse/Ask me why I do it, I say, well, why not?/I start a revolution and I don't want to stop/Open up the window and tell me what's that I smell." He does a bit of sniffing during the guitar instrumental part in the middle, and also concludes the song with some sniffing. This song is wonderful.
"If The Blues Was Money" is an original number from Alvin Youngblood Hart. It was included on his 1996 album Big Mama's Door, where it was listed as "If Blues Was Money." Though it's an original songs, some of its lines will be familiar to you from a song like "I Know You Rider": "Lay down in the evening, just can't take my rest/My mind get to rambling like the wild horses in the west." Interestingly, that earlier version was also performed solo. This new recording is excellent, featuring some great stuff on guitar. "If the blues were money, babe, I'd sure be a millionaire/But it's all I can do just to keep out the electric chair." That's followed by "Deep Sea Diver," an original song from Guy Davis. It has some wonderfully unsubtle double meanings in lines like "I'm a deep sea diver, and I know how to go below/When I leave a little girl, she beg me, daddy, please don't go." The song is told from the perspective of a traveling man referred to as Handsome Jack. It is a delight.
Corey Harris' last number is a cover of "I Belong To The Band," a song from Rev. Gary Davis, the man responsible for "Death Don't Have No Mercy." Corey Harris delivers an excellent rendition, with a good, loose vibe and a fantastic vocal performance. It feels like he's playing on our porch. What could be better? Alvin Youngblood Hart follows that with "Highway 61," a traditional number, mostly associated with Mississippi Fred McDowell and often titled "61 Highway." Alvin Youngblood Hart gives us a passionate rendition, and halfway through it we are treated to some rousing work on harmonica. The album concludes with Guy Davis performing "Everything I Got Is Done In Pawn," an original number, though largely inspired by Elizabeth Cotten's "Shake Sugaree," which has the line "Everything I got is done in pawn" as well as these lines that begin this song: "Well, I pawned my watch, and I pawned my chain/Pawned everything that was in my name." Guy Davis takes it to another level with lines like "Even pawned the old lady who used to live upstairs" and "Pawned so much I'll have to live outdoors." And the funniest moment is the line he leaves unsung. It's a cool way to wrap up this album of delicious blues.
CD Track List
- We Are Almost Down To The Shore (Fight On) - Corey Harris
- Screamin' And Hollerin' The Blues - Alvin Youngblood Hart
- See Me When You Can - Guy Davis
- What's That I Smell - Corey Harris
- If The Blues Was Money - Alvin Youngblood Hart
- Deep Sea Diver - Guy Davis
- I Belong To The Band - Corey Harris
- Highway 61 - Alvin Youngblood Hart
- Everything I Got Is Done In Pawn - Guy Davis
Fight On! True Blues Vol. 2 is scheduled to be released on April 17, 2026 on Yellow Dog Records.
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