Search - John Mooney :: All I Want

John Mooney's distinctive fusion of Delta blues and New Orleans street funk is a high-wire act--a step too far in either direction and the blend plummets into cliché. But his poise is note-perfect on this album. And when Mooney revisits his solo slide-guitar blues foundation, which he does often here, things get even better. The hard-cutting tribute to his mentor, Son House (an update of "Death Letter" titled "Son's Blues"), and the keening paean "Baby Please"--on which quicksilver licks form a slicing melody around the audibly stomping beat of his boots and his high, grizzled singing--are sterling examples of his expertise with tradition-fueled material. Mooney also displays his command of acoustic resonator guitar, House's instrument of choice, in "Buried Treasure," a poor man's fantasy about hitting it big. As good as Mooney's become on old-time Delta material, it's his rollicking, electric hybrid music that's won most of his fans. They'll be as happy as the purists with this record, thanks to numbers like "She Ain't No Good," which shakes along on an Afro-Caribbean beat plucked right out of the French Quarter and gets peppered with guitar distortion, and "Feel Like Hollerin'," a slide-and-strum workout that rides a Crescent City street-parade rhythm and inspires Mooney to take the song title seriously. "Hey Little Girl" and "All I Want" plow similarly deep grooves, although the latter track rocks like something out of a Mississippi hill-country shack. With 10 albums and 20 years of performing to his credit, Mooney sounds like he's at his peak. --Ted Drozdowski