Luke Winslow-King
The Coming Tide
*** out of *****
The stripped down blues of Luke Winslow-King flow out with ease like a warm breeze on a summer day felt from a back porch in the delta. LWK is practicing an art form that was birthed in the south and this New Orleans based (by way of Michigan) artist has a knack for the folk blues, pairing with e Esther Rose on vocals deepens the layers on The Coming Tide's 11 tracks.
The two are vocally compatible as they run through the folk blues of songs like "Staying In Town", "Keep Your Lamp Trimmed And Burning" and the NOLA ode "I've Got The Blues For Rampart Street". The voices are a great match as King can sound detached and laid back while Rose sounds lithe and urgent. The duo are augmented by drums, a rich toned slide guitar and horns for the disks opener and title track. The horn work is also a highlight of "Let'em Talk" with the brass blowing wonderfully.
The story tune of "Ella Speed" adds a distinct folk dialect to things before the closing cover of George Harrison's "I've Got My Mind Set On You" ends the disk on a high note.
Overall the mood can feel a bit too laid back over the course of the disk, while the trumpet cooks on "Moving On (Towards Better Days)" Kings vocals are so mellow and removed that the track never gets the energy or gospel passion it deserves. A track like "You Don't Know Better Than Me" would benefit from more vibrancy and bite from the front-man.
Overall the third album from LWK on the consistently great Bloodshot Records finds the artist proudly playing the delta-folk-blues like countless artists before him, another link in the great Americana chain.
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Solid pre-war blues here, old timey in an excellent way. Another winner from Bloodshot.
Support the artist here, buy the album here, catch'em live here and peep some samples below:
"Ella Speed" Live
"The Coming Tide" Live
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