As a triple threat, guitarist/organist/singer
Lucky Peterson is able to vary the usual repetitive patterns that a full-length album of blues music can fall into, and though the back cover of his self-titled 1999 album advises "File Under: BLUES, " advice we would not dispute, a lot of different bases are covered on the album. "Shake," with the addition of the Late Night Horns, is a convincing remake of the
Sam Cooke soul classic,
Willie Nelson's "Funny How Time Slips Away" provides a country-style platform for a duet between
Peterson and
Joe Louis Walker, and the most surprising selection,
Bobbie Gentry's "Ode To Billie Joe," turns out to be the outline for an extended instrumental organ solo. In between the stylistic changes of pace, however, there is still plenty of room for the updated Chicago blues in which
Peterson specializes, notably on
Ernie Isley's "Deal With It,"
Earl King's "Seduction," and
Peterson's own self-descriptive "Tribute To Luther Allison." ~ William Ruhlmann