A follow-up to last year’s outtakes and live set, Young, Guitar Days, this companion piece tracks Forbert as he quits Nashville and heads for a YMCA in New York, where he rediscovers his country blues roots. Small-town aches and big city despondency colour the best of these reminiscences. The Jackrabbit Slim sessions throw up a couple of goodies in “Smoky Windows” and “Witch Blues”, while eco-disaster anthem “The Oil Song” retains its resonance. Modest and somewhat underrated, Forbert’s back pages are worth another look.
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