A budget-label reissue of the instructional blues LP released by Guitar Player magazine in 1976, this CD includes most of the songs but omits Michael's spoken passages about each track.
Bloomfield pays tribute to his influences and favorites: acoustic and electric, solo and with a band. Standout tracks include "Death in My Family," aplayed in the style of
Guitar Slim, "WDIA," a tribute to
B.B. King, "City Girl," dedicated to
T-Bone Walker, and an acoustic version of "Kansas City," aplayed, in
Bloomfield's words, "in a style I would call 'Travis Picking', after
Merle Travis. It seems an anomaly to use a modern style for such an old song, but the method of syncopated contrapuntal fingerpicking is well suited to the song because the key of E has so many open strings." ~ Jan Mark Wolkin, All Music Guide
