This is good stuff.  I know nothing of PK Dwyer, but what I've been able to figure from his press release and web site  is that he's somewhat of a fixture on the Seattle music cene, and he has been around playing various styles of music.  Well, here he has taken to the blues, and, as they say, the blues have taken to him.

PK says in the title cut that he was told in a dream by Jimmy Reed that he's a blues guy now.  Believe it or don't, but the guitars intertwining make believers out of lots of folks.  One's loud and distorted, the other clean and sweet on this altered boogie.  Throw in his high-pitched, almost other-worldly vocals, and you've got the makings of a killer tune.  That goes for a lot on this album.  On some cuts, like "Celebration Blues," Dwyer plays harp and acoustic, and with that voice sounds like someone recorded 50 or 60 years ago.  But he also plugs in on plenty of cuts and lets her rip.  "Please Don't Make Me Beg" is a rocker pure and simple.  The electric fingerpicked blues- by-way-of-rockabilly guitar of "$800" drives a song that has one of my favorite lyrics in a long time; "If I had $800, I'd  tell you what I'd do.  Buy me some whiskey and spend the rest on you."  Followed closely by "If I had $800 we'd be Vegas bound.  If I had $800 we'd be Vegas bound.  Get married by Elvis, and then we'd settle down."

A blues lyric for the new millenium.

Speaking of lyrics, Pl likes to have fun.  In fact, it took a listen or two to figure out he's a unique lyricist not bound by the conventions of blues singers.  He dows his own thing, and it makes him stand out in a world of folks trying to do this music.

All this music here is fine.  Dwyer's guitar playing, whether self-accompanied acoustic guitar, or stinging electric leads and slides, is hot as hell.  His vocals are perfect and unique, and the songs are all good. -JH (John Heidt)
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