Album Notes

Doug Cox and Salil Bhatt’s first album SLIDE TO FREEDOM was a genuine musical landmark, brilliant players successfully marrying rural “roots” traditions from opposite sides of the planet. Mississippi Delta meets Ganges Delta. Their latest collaboration, powered once again by the tablas of Ramkumesh Kumar and guest appearances by Salil’s esteemed Grammy-winning father Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, proves conclusively that this musical intermarriage was not just a stunt but the start of a new world genre.

MAKE A BETTER WORLD is even better than its predecessor, thanks in large part to vocals by New Orleans soul singer John Boutté that take things all the way down the Mississippi, to the foot of Canal Street in the French Quarter, without ever losing their back-country flavour. Call them Planetary Po’ Boys. The brand-new-but-instantly-timeless sound they all create together makes the point that all over the world, the rural poor and the urban poor all sing the same blues, all yearn for the same things. Musical communication like this is one of the surest ways to make a better world.

--Spider Robinson, podcaster and author of VERY HARD CHOICES [Baen Books]