You Can't Do That

Dave Myers helped make Chicago blues history as the leader of the Aces-Jukes, Little Walter's backup group during the harmonica genius's heyday in the 1950s. While he's played both guitar and bass on a pile of classic blues recordings as a sideman over the intervening decades, this marks his first album as a featured artist. The wait was evidently worth it, as Myers is flanked by a top-notch band featuring Rusty Zinn on guitar and Kim Wilson on harmonica and simply turns in the best traditional blues record to be released in a long, long time. Myers' guitar style is thoroughly down-home and swinging (especially fine on the instrumental "Legs Up") and has taken on absolutely no modern accoutrements over the years; the band turns in well-formed and integrated performances that recall the Chess studio sessions of the 1950s. Myers' singing voice isn't the strongest, but instead imparts a warm, good-natured blues feeling to it, heard to good effect on "Ting-A-Ling," the Little Walter tribute "Oh Baby," John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson's "Elevate Me, Mama" and "You Can't Love Me That Way." Dave also brings six originals to this 14-track outing, with the title track sounding like a lost Chicago classic from the '50s. This one absolutely defies the odds; if you really can't go home again, then this one comes awful darn close.