AMG Review of Deluxe Edition

Thom Jurek
All Music Guide

Calling this retrospective by Charlie Musselwhite a "deluxe edition" may be a little misleading. Twelve of the album's 14 tracks come from three albums he recorded for Alligator in the early '90s. There are four each from Ace of Harps (1990), Signature (1991), and In My Time (1993). The sequencing is beautifully done and representative. The true curiosities are two unissued cuts. The first is "Lotsa Poppa," an outtake from the In My Time sessions. The cut itself isn't such a revelation, but Musselwhite's harp playing and singing is. His delivery is signature in that he is always slow and relaxed yet just underneath. There in the grain of his voice is something else, something that smolders. The final cut here is from Musselwhite's private collection of tapes and it was recorded at home in the early '60s. It features the legendary Will Shade instructing a very young Musselwhite on guitar and singing with him. It's ragged but moving and poetic. This is priceless archival blues history and is a fine bookend. Hopefully this will inspire the bluesman to find a venue to release more of his personal archives in the future.