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LIVE THE LIFE
(Blix Street)
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Jim Kweskin, whose history goes back to the birth of the Cambridge folk scene, said he revived his respected jug band and his career a few years ago for just one reason: to introduce listeners to the young vocalist Samoa Wilson. That’s understandable. Wilson has a sweet, soft-edged guileless voice that’s easy on the ears, whether she’s delivering her own heartbreaker "Sun Going Down" (made more poignant by crying slide dobro) or sashaying through standards ranging from a blithe, fiddle-driven "What a Little Moonlight Can Do" to the Ma Rainey homage "Oh Papa Blues." The expert band get turned loose, too, with the instrumentals "Organ Grinder’s Swing" and Duke Ellington’s "C Jam Blues." Which makes this album well-balanced and thoroughly entertaining.
