**1/2 Anson Funderburgh & Sam Myers

THAT'S WHAT THEY WANT

(Black Top)

If you found the blues sitting in a plain brown paper bag, it would sound like this. That's a compliment. This is no-frills, working-man's blues sung (or, more precisely, hollered) by Dallas harpman Myers and backed -- sometimes fronted -- by his young guitar-slinging sidekick, Funderburgh. This CD marks their 10 years collaborating, and if anything they're more economical than ever. Myers delivers his punch lines like a junkyard dog; Funderburgh plays the tricky rabbit, running agile circles of straight-ahead stingy guitar around him. They're best when they're joking, covering something like Delbert McClinton's "Monkey Around" or the anti-feminist "I Don't Want You Cutting Off Your Hair." Or when Funderburgh's laying the licks down thick, as he does on his own "Mudslide."

-- Ted Drozdowski