The never ending search for authenticity. Some musicians do it and some don’t. Jeff Michaels does it and consequently successfully captures that old time feel good groove. That makes his ten songs and twelve bars fine places to visit for, to paraphrase a blues standard, he sounds like he lives the life he loves and loves the life he lives.
His electric guitar is always to the fore and he uses it wisely to reinforce the lyrics, as in “Riverside”, and also to start a sonic fire, as in the solidly rocking “Texas Sky”. Talking of the lyrics, Jeff Michaels is blue collar all the way with each song being practically an ode to the woes of the common man and, perhaps in consequence, this album makes it seem like every night is shaping up to be Friday night.
This is the kind of music that has taken the likes of Tommy Castro onwards and upwards to success and would be nice to think that there is room for one more at the top as, no doubt about it, Jeff Michaels is, perhaps because he has been around a while, truly a man at home with the blues. So when he asks “Is It True”, as he does in one of the best songs on “Long Live Texas Blues”, his guitar answers yes for him and you can take that to the bank.