Eric Bibb, Rory Block, Maria Muldaur
"Sisters & Brothers"
www.telarc.com

This one's not an anthology. It's related to an anthology, featuring multiple artists, but they work together on every song instead of separately, so it's a "supersession" rather than an anthology. Hard users of blues will know that these three names do unarguably make this a supersession. Maria Muldaur is a respected interpreter of torch blues, Rory Block is a devoted rural blues/gospel historian and performer whose familiarity and delivery of Son House material is acknowledged as the world's best. Eric Bibb, in a nutshell, is the black Van Morrison. Putting this trio together in front of a drums/upright bass/keyboard rhythm section guarantees an earthy, fertile synthesis, one as good for the head as for the feet, and very, very good indeed.

It's the kind of record that reassures jaded listeners that blues is alive, well and growing. Sound wise, it's that warm, tube-saturated retro approach that the big boys are all trying to wrap themselves in these days. Many readers will be familiar with the film, "O Brother, Where Art Thou" from a couple of years ago and remember its down-home Mississippi mythos soundtrack. Well, here's a ready-made soundtrack for an "O Brother" sequel.

Every song is a highlight. Some remind, some remake, some rebel. If there is a "best" here, it's "Bessie's Advice," in which Maria Muldaur convincingly portrays a woman who's experienced the real, rough, woman's blues in quantity, found her solace and counsel in Bessie Smith, certainly one of the strongest women the blues ever produced, and who's drinking alone in dim candlelight and going over her Bessie Smith catechism.