Another day and another blues album - or so I thought – but life has still got a surprise or two in store for my ears with Shake N’ Cor & The Bonetones actually managing to make a fresh take on what is a very old and tired genre.
There isn’t even anything particularly unconventional in the thirteen songs that make up “Best Life” yet this is far from another keep the summer festival fans happy album. The feel is casual, even after midnight, but all the parts fit together with a precision rarely found today and the end result is never less than endearing and often uncommonly enticing.
Now all this has to be a team effort but, nonetheless, much of the credit for this album’s appeal must go to Corry Suter who, with her own blend of uptown sugar and sultry smokiness, turns song after song into prime examples of the persuasive power of the female voice. Try out your ears on “What Are We Gonna Do Without Jesus” or the glorious “Pillows to Walk On” for the proof.
“Best Life” could have been just another blues album – and it does, in truth, have its conventional moments - but Shake N’ Cor & The Bonetones just aren’t the kind of band to rest on their laurels and, without ever being flashy, show that it is all about the song and that time honoured 12 bar atmosphere. I duly raise my glass to them.