Album Review: Sammy Kershaw - “The Blues Got Me”

One of country music's best vocalists makes a case for one of the best vocalists in any genre with this strong new release.

You have to live a lot of life to make a great blues record (it’s one of the genres that demands that) and given his own life story — a story really ripe for some sort of film — Sammy Kershaw certainly is ready for The Blues Got Me to come out. And after just a handful of listens to the record, it’s as good as anything Sammy Kershaw has ever recorded.

“The Blues Got Me” certainly is an apt title for the album. It describes the eleven tracks here (mostly original songs with a handful of choice covers thrown in). The title track sets the mood with a BB King style blues romp while Sammy’s take on The Allman Brother’s “Ain’t My Cross To Bear” allows room for musical interludes to help set in the Blues while the classic “Big Legged Woman” is smooth in Sammy’s hands while his cover of Chuck Berry’s “No Money Down” is as good as his earlier Berry cover, “Memphis,” on Politics, Religion & Her from 20 years ago.

Sammy’s newer songs like “I’m Gone,” “I’m Your Huckleberry” and “No Money Blues” all sparkle in ways that recall greats of the genre from BB King to Buddy Guy to Leon Russell to everyone in between. In an era when artists can make albums easier than ever before, it’s refreshing to hear an album like The Blues Got Me, a project with a talented full band. The Blues Got Me is a fantastic collection of songs from Sammy Kershaw and while I’ll always like him singing country songs he was born to sing, he’s a mighty fine blues singer too.

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