EDDIE & VAAN SHAW

Naked

North Atlantic Blues

By James Porter

This father-and-son team has been a reliable part of the Chicago blues scene for decades on end.  Eddie Shaw first gained fame as Howlin' Wolf's sax player before he started fronting his own band, Eddie Shaw & the Wolf Gang.  Vaan Shaw has justifiably gained a rep as a hotshot guitar player. This collaboration is an entirely acoustic affair, which explains the title.  Naked features only Vaan's guitar and Eddie's sax and harmonica, minus any electric embellishments.

According to the liner notes, by noted blues writer Don Wilcock who sat in on the sessions, the CD was recorded in three days and produced by Eddie’s manager and label head, Paul Benjamin. “The studio is the living room in  a small house trailer down the twisting mud tracks that pass for a road on the outskirts of picturesque Rockland, Maine…No gimmicks, no knobs, no plugs, but plenty of self-generated electricity!”

Unlike most acoustic blues albums, this is pointedly not an attempt to recreate the prewar blues sound. Instead, this is just Eddie and Vaan doing what they normally do, only this time without electricity. While it is uncommon to hear a sax in a stripped-down situation such as this, the elder Shaw acquits himself well. Eddie's loose harmonica playing makes a few appearances as well, but he's at his best on the sax.

Two songs, "I've Heard" and "Voices Crying," feature the voice and lyrics of Vaan Shaw. "Voices Crying," in particular, has a social-consciousness bent that leans in Bob Dylan territory. The other original selections feature the simultaneous wit and wisdom we're used to hearing on Eddie's own records, with the titles giving a good indication of his down-home sensibility: "Lick Skillet," "Greedy Man," "Mule Boy," "My Woman Is Ugly," and even an ode to "Motel 6," which namedrops Billy Branch and Anson Funderburgh as fellow customers of that famed motel chain.

If you've ever wanted to hear an Eddie Shaw & the Wolf Gang release with most of the instruments dubbed out, then you may want the chance to hear them buck Naked.

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