Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
It is in the act of performance to which we look for validation of our respect and perhaps arguably that of our own existence to how we hear a musician away from the studio and out in the open, out in the raw and with the possibility that all might not work out well. It is a confirmation of just how much a performer means to us when we hear the odd catch in the throat when words become emotional, when the language within the songs become fraught with touching sentiment or even the joy of laughter that pokes its way into the odd line of familiarity.
In Ian Siegal the language of performance is a given, it is the reason for the Blues man being so admired and the gravelly tones of expression being steeped in achievement. Aided and accompanied by the excellent Jimbo Mathus, in the raw and live is just the sense of physical enjoyment that music fans love and in Wayward Sons that enjoyment is felt keenly and resonates across between the two men; it is one of warmth and sincerity and throughout the whole album it is completed by the sense of justified friendship.
Wayward Sons they might be but there is nothing wayward about the way the two men play their music together, the intricate playfulness and the design of the set is one that cannot help but be loved and as with any live album that really gets down to brass tacks, it is the interplay between songs that makes the tracks come across as human and interesting.
In the tracks Heavenly Houseboat Blues, Casey Jones, Stack O’ Lee, Talkin’ Overseas Pirate Blues and Goodnight Irene, the mix of British and American Blues is bountiful and genial, the tenderness of love between the two men as the songs come and flow is one in which to admire and allow the freedom of music to do its purposeful thing with relentless objectivity and passion.
It might be the act of performance that draws us to the music, the rawness of a musician with nothing around them but their instrument of choice and perhaps one other kindred spirit alongside them to share in the pain and creative joy; it is the raw that in the end makes it all worthwhile and Wayward Sons is that ultimate discovery of musical joy.
Ian D. Hall