Life is full of surprises. Cheese turns out to be chalk. Politicians turn out to be honest (OK, I made that one up) and modern music innovates by harking back to the past. The retro approach rarely works, to tell the truth, but with "Funk 'n' Blues Man" from Ronny Sessum, we get the exception to the rule.
As the title of the album suggests, Ronny Sessum's musical style mixes up funk and blues in that satisfying way that blues bands did way back in the seventies and eighties. Listening to this album made me want to drag out all those old LPs on the Alligator and Flying Fish labels that I hadn't heard in quite some time. Not that the songs here are some sort of homage to those halcyon days for Ronny Sessum is no copycat. There are better vocalists - and indeed better guitarists - than our Mr Sessum but very few manage to imbue their music with that downhome feel nowadays. From hardcore funk workouts like "She's So Funky" to more reflective moments like the hypnotic "Voodoo", this is a satisfying set of songs that just work. They work for a reason too and that reason is honesty. Everything here sounds real. You don't doubt for a moment that the musicians here could cut it live.
Talking of the band, they play well to a man with the subtle keyboard work by Roy Powers being of special note. Maybe this isn't an album to change the world but it is certainly one that you will want to play time and time again.