Steve Gardner “Walkin’ the Dog”

(Buffalo and Hoodoo Records 2008)

Washboard Chaz Leary – vocals, washboard

Steve Gardner – guitars, vocals, harmonica

Bill Steber – vocals, banjo ukelele, concert ukelele, guitars

Brandon Armstrong – tuba, trombone

Bill Benfield – mandolin, guitar

Hisa Nakase – bass

Steve Gardner’s newest CD wastes no time getting to the point of the blues: clever lyrics, down-to-earth rhythms, honest musicianship and good-time feel. Those ingredients just keep on boiling, like hot soup, all through Gardner’s fourth release. Every song takes the dog around the block in a new direction. With tunes from Leadbelly, Jimmy Reed, the Mississippi Sheiks, Blind Lemon Jefferson and Sonny Boy Williamson, the tight sextet of sounds gets deep into blues. These and the traditional songs like “Freight Train” and “Digging My Potatoes” are given distinctive arrangements neither archivist or over-new, but just right.

The nimble rhythms on each tune keep the energy in blues flow, and push the songs into the upbeat, life-loving side of the blues. The two-step rhythm of the songs grounds the tasteful picking and plucking, and lets everything really fly. Steber, Benfield and Gardner just keep dropping in nifty, clever solos on guitar, mandolin and ukelele one after the next. There’s plenty of care and effort in all this, but it feels as comfortable as friends jamming on the living room sofa.

The recording and mastering quality is especially high on this CD, too, a fact which should interest more than audiophiles and solo-transcribers. It means the music has a fullness and roundness with all the instruments in place to contribute a sound you can hear clearly and directly. Nothing gets lost, so the blues feel of the songs is refined and intricate. The arrangements strip away all the unnecessary fussiness to reveal the subtle sounds and interplay of instruments--simple but infinitely complex.

Though the musicianship is high, the songs never stray far from feeling. The shoulder-shaking groove of “Mean Old Frisco” and high-stepping humor of “Jesus On the Mainline,” makes you feel good. Gardner’s vocals, along with Leary’s and Steber’s, keep to honest expression and poetic insight. The songs feel immediately, directly true, which is exactly what you need when you are out and about “walking your dog.”