Mississippi Heat

Delta Bound

Delmark

by Mike O’Cull

Mississippi Heat is one of the most talented, creative, and hard-working blues bands playing today. For 20 years, the band, led by harpist Pierre Lacocque, has spread its “traditional with a twist” blues sound around the world with ten album releases and countless nights playing live on stage. Delta Bound is the band’s fourth release on Delmark and it is both a celebration of 20 years in the game and a display of new material and continuing energy, enough to imagine MH easily going for another 20. The album features the current band helped out by some outstanding special guests and returning band members from years past; this is a 14-song example of the best that the blues has to offer.

            The blues is all about personality and soul and Delta Bound delivers in both of these categories; it’s the kind of recording that pulls the listener into its world from the very first note. Everyone on the disc is a heavy hitter and gets behind Lacocque’s original songs in a big way. Especially tasty are the women giving voice to these tunes, Inetta Visor and Deitra Farr. Visor is the current voice of the band and has sung on the last number of MH releases; she is a fine and passionate singer who breathes life into her lyrics with a seemingly offhand abandon. Deitra Farr was an early member of the Heat and returns to the fold here to sing three cuts that showcase her warm and smooth style. Farr is now an established solo artist and band leader in her own right but steps right back into the MH sound like she never left. The album also features Grammy-nominated  and Grammy-winning contributors, including drummer Kenny Smith, guitarist Billy Flynn, keyboardist Johnny Iguana, producer Michael Freeman, and zydeco star Chubby Carrier. Guitarist and Albert King alumni Carl Weathersby also lends his considerable talents to a couple of tracks.

The songs on Delta Bound are mostly Lacocque’s originals and are excellent slices of blues flavor and feeling that demonstrate his command of both his instrument and his idiom. Standouts include “Granny Mae”, “Look-A-Here, Baby”, and “The Blues Matrix” (a modern-day blues if there ever was one);  the tracks are uniformly good and the album is free from dead spots. The band covers The Animals on “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” to good effect, as well, and gives the classic rock chestnut a nice dose of blues feeling.

 Really, Delta Bound is a great effort by a much-loved band captured in fine form and is easily one of the best blues albums of the year. Mississippi Heat does the blues right and proud and fans need to go out and purchase a copy of Delta Bound and support this crew so they can give us another two decades of great music.