This seriously entertaining set from the southern backroads defies the “roots” 
label with the broad range of styles it encompasses, but it’s sure to satisfy 
listeners partial to that brand of music and then some.  Tobey (based somewhere 
in the Carolinas) produced, engineered, plays guitar and drums, sings with a 
gravelly voice of the Waits variety and wrote all but three of thirteen tracks on this 
under-the-radar masterpiece.  Don’t let the rousing opener “Charlene” or the slow 
“Deep Enough Blues” impress you that the album is purely blues.  The moody, 
jazz-flavored “Preacher Man” and the bittersweet acoustic love paean “What To 
Do About You,” with ethereal vocals by Cynthia Tobey, will have you rethinking.  
The simple and humorous acoustic ditty “Sumptin’ To Eat” will further confound 
before blues returns with the deep-grooved acoustic/electric “Hole In the Soul of 
My Blues.”  Tobey wanders into country and rock territory before the final notes.  
At that point most listeners will be plenty well satisfied.
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