John Campbelljohn
Hook, Slide and Sinker
Independent (1998)
John Campbelljohn’s latest release is simply awesome. It contains some of the finest blues guitar I’ve heard in a long time, from the opening slides on “Don’t Let the Drinkin’ Do the Thinkin’” to the final note of the sixteenth track, “Wife & Family”. John wrote or co-wrote all but two of the songs on this CD, Leon Dubinsky wrote one of the other two and that other is from the Robert Cray songbook.
As a bluesman and a rocker, as every Cape Bretoner who has seen him perform knows, John knows his stuff well on stage. But when you get into this CD, and turn the speakers or headphones up, he can really get inside you because the production is excellent and the music shines.
One of my favourites is “Sunny Sky Slide” because it shows John’s slide talent at its best. He played it during a Saturday afternoon visit to the Compact Disc Depot recently and it was even more enjoyable because his two little girls were in the store dancing to their father’s incredible music.
Bruce Moore is the 5 string bass player who provides some vocal accompaniment and Jim Logan is the drummer. The three of them make for a great hour of music.
As the liner notes say, John Campbelljohn is “…one of the top blues/rock acts in the country. When he jams the socket wrench over his little finger and cranks up his Telecaster, few slide guitar players can match his intense playing.” I mean the man plays blues on a Telecaster. It doesn’t get any better! – Alan Leith
