Album Review: Matt Anderson - Coal Mining Blues (Busted Flat)

There's at least two sides to Matt Andersen, the Perth-Andover, New Brunswick-based bluesman; there's the hard rocking sweaty showman who dominates the stage whilst delivering his trademark hot licks, but also the gentle giant with the soulful voice, the quality of which is demonstrated in some of his more sensitive material, such as the title song to this his seventh album to date, COAL MINING BLUES.  

Taking up the guitar at the early age of fourteen after even earlier spells on both trumpet and tuba, Andersen discovered the blues from where there was no return. With a handful of original songs, either self-composed or co-written for the most part with producer Colin Linden, COAL MINING BLUES demonstrates a clear understanding of the blues, with some tasty guitar licks on Fired Up and the gutsy album opener I Don't Want To Give In, to the gospel influenced Baby I'll Be and the stripped down to essentials Make You Stay.

Recorded at Levon Helm's Studio in Woodstock, fellow Band-mate Garth Hudson makes an appearance on accordion on the beautiful Home Sweet Home. With a couple of well-chosen covers, Blackie and the Rodeo Kings' folksy Willie's Diamond Joe and the old Charlie Rich anthem Feel Like Going Home, COAL MINING BLUES touches the senses that blues albums seldom do. This is due in no small part to the title song Coal Mining Blues, which holds a mirror up to the heroic coal miner in whose reflection on the cover shot we all consider our own mortality, which in turn is reflected in the song's lyric 'The man in the mirror looks nothing like me, just a weary reminder of what I used to be'. A true and completely unpretentious album.