(Modern Acoustic Blues) [WEB] Tim Williams - So Low - 2015, FLAC (tracks), lossless

So Low (Solo) captures Williams at his most vulnerable: the man, his acoustic instrument of choice, and his pleasantly gritty vocal. As he tells it in the liner notes, there are "No guests. Not even any overdubs or edits." It's just, "Two hands, a good instrument, a voice, and the tapping of a two-tone wing-tip shoe." Williams caught the country blues bug during the great blues revival of the 60s and has been fascinated with the solo performances of artists like Big Bill Broonzy, Lightnin' Hopkins, and Leadbelly ever since. In fact, he performs most often as a soloist and decided it was time to do an album that way. With his blues finger picking, seasoned vocal, an album full of classics by Broonzy, Blind Boy Fuller, the jazz pianist Mose Allison, and a few of his own creations, he transports us back to the Mississippi Delta. Mose Allison's "If You Live," the album opener, kicks it old school, taking Allison's jazzy touch and baptizing it in the Mississippi. The results are light hearted and toe-tapping and a good hint of what's to come. Williams grooves hard, no doubt about it. He mixes things up a bit with mandolin on Big Bill's "My Big Money," a song that addresses the bonus withheld from African American soldiers after World War I. And Williams tears it up on an old Harmony twelve-string on his own "The Grizzly Bear." Williams is a fine writer, a student of the blues, and a highly competent multi-instrumentalist. So Low is a great album. It's no wonder he was voted best solo/duo act and best guitarist at Memphis's International Blues Challenge last year. As he says in the liner notes of the musicians he's spent a lifetime studying, we can also say of Williams: He's got "the voice, the guitar, the story, and the means" to bring some bluesy awesomeness into your life.

© Chip O'Brien

An excellent ten track album of traditional acoustic blues from Canada, Tim Williams simply has to be one of the finest pickers on the planet these days. A former double award winner at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, this release highlights his captivating style and talent to full effect.
Both of Williams’ previous recent releases, ‘Blue Highway’ and ‘Evenings Among Friends’ – a re-release of an earlier effort – were wonderful bits of striking resonator and acoustic guitar-led blues work. With ‘So Low’ Williams confirms his clearly well-deserved place at the hi-end of the acoustic blues-tree.
Tracks covered include the jazz-inspired If You Live from Mose Allison; Broonzy’s My Big Money – a lesser-known gem; Blind Boy Fuller’s Pistol Slapper, here titled Pistol Snapper, with Williams’ own take on it as part of the ever-evolving folk-process; Johnny Cash’s Big River; and Tampa Red’s classic The Witching Hour. Many tracks are self-penned and showcase the guy’s deep absorption in and understanding of the music and traditional blues in general.
Closing with his own composition, Lightnin‘, a clear homage to his own personal hero, Texan Lightnin’ Hopkins, this album is a genuine revelation, filled with neat guitar chops and intricate picking in styles that range through Delta to Piedmont, Texas to Chicago and most of the USA’s notable blues-posts in between. A positive delight.

© Iain Patience