Reviewed by James Attlee

Perhaps you've already decided whether white boys can sing the blues. Here's another question for you: should white boys attempt to cover classic black gospel material originally performed by itinerant jackleg preachers like Blind Willie Johnson, or the finger picking Reverend Blind Gary Davis, let alone quartets like The Swan Silvertones? These guys have got a nerve alright. And they come from the Home Counties. Wisely the Wobegones don't attempt to match the originals, but throw them in the Wobegone computer and come out with something nearer a kind of hillbilly skiffle. This is music to entertain, best heard 'live'. The set.includes covers of "You've Go To Move" by Rev Davis, "Didn't It Rain" and Washington Phillips' great "Denomination Blues" (once superbly revived by the 77s). The Griffiths brothers also write their own material in their chosen idiom, although they haven't come up with a lyric like the Charming Bell's song covered here: "Everybody's worried about the atom bomb/ No-ones worried about the day my Lord shall come/But He'll hit like an atom bomb, when He comes, when He comes." The satisfied will be those out for a good time rather than matrix number-collecting gospel purists.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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