DOUG MacLEOD : DUBB

1. (If You Going to The) Dog House
2. Walkin' While I Bleed
3. She Boogy'n
4. The Sun Shine Down My Way
5. Dubb's Talkin' Politician Blues
6. Miss Rita
7. One Fool Show
8. $50 Wig
9. Have a Little Taste
10. Night walking
11. North County Woman
12. The Devil Is Beating His Wife

Label : Black & Tan Records

Length : 54:30

Released : 2004

Review (Acoustic Guitar) : It's hard to imagine Doug MacLeod playing his blues in a town hall-style theater-or any place with fancy curtains and a polite crowd. His music seems more suited to a dark, smoky club on the edge of town, a place with an air of slight foreboding, even violence. Dubb, his latest CD, is vintage MacLeod-at turns moody, sinister, and humorous, and impeccably delivered. Though he plays mostly acoustic guitars (a pair of Nationals here), MacLeod's picking and vocals are comparable to Buddy Guy's in their intensity and raw emotion. His lyrics always seem viscerally personal, whether addressing affairs of the heart or social issues: "Walkin' While I Bleed" is about a man who is "beat up by love"; "Dubb's Talkin' Politician Blues" voices boiling anger at greedy elected officials who leave the world "in a sorry condition." As usual, MacLeod performs some tunes with a small band and others solo. His brilliant but unshowy guitar chops take center stage on the solo cuts such as "Night Walking," in which he makes the feeling of romantic betrayal palpable through the combination of furious riffing in open G and lyrics like "I been night walking / Walked myself right up into day / I found the dawn / Just can't find my way."