*** Paul Rishell & Annie Raines

MOVING TO THE COUNTRY

(Tone-Cool)

Singer/guitarist Paul Rishell makes a sweet knot out of overdubbed National steel guitars and his bone-marrow-deep voice to tackle Memphis Minnie & Joe McCoy's 1930 guitar duet "My Washerwoman's Gone" as a solo piece. That's one sign of the vigor and imagination he brings to the oldest strain of blues. It's also a kick to hear the easy way he peals out such intricate picking and sliding. Likewise with his take on Blind Blake's tricky "Sweet Jivin' Mama." After more than 30 years of collecting, inspecting, and dissecting country blues, he's become the tradition's most graceful champion, with a gift for harmonizing his rich-toned slide playing and singing.

On this album, Rishell and his harmonica foil, Annie Raines, do their usual diversifications, adding bass and drums and even guitarist Troy Gonyea to deliver some electric-band swinging and stomping, Chicago style. But it's their acoustic and duet pieces that make this CD special. This Cambridge duo have achieved a level of sparse and crafty intimacy that allows their music to whisper the blues' simple truths. Relative youngster Raines also continues to grow as a musician. She co-wrote five songs and sings lead on two, and her rhythm mandolin brings a new texture to their sound while drawing directly on the music's legacy.

-- Ted Drozdowski