That's the thing about the blues - it is timeless. Canadian blues band Downchild, for example, have been 40 years in the business and this album, perhaps unsurprisingly, features guests like Dan Aykroyd, Colin Linden and Wayne Jackson.
First things first, there's a serious point to be made. After all, if you are going to call your album "I Need A Hat" then you have to have identified the appeal - and need - for a hat as the years go by. So the title track puts a big smile on your face as "…to be a star you need a hat". The rest of his album follows the feel of this song with the kind of good natured vibe that you get when you combine the blues, beer and a Friday night with "Somebody Lied" pretty much summing things up (with a little help from Wayne Jackson's classy trumpet solo). Adding a little bit more star quality is Dan Aykroyd who throws a harmonica solo into the hat on "You Don't Love Me".
All in all, this is a buoyant, likeable album that will please a lot of ears and it's easy to hear why Downchild have stayed the distance in the music business.