Rod Piazza & The Mighty Flyers - Beyond The Source (2001)

Winners of both the 1999 and 2000 W.C. Handy Blues Band of the Year awards, Rod Piazza & The Mighty Flyers have been giving blues fans the real deal for more than two decades. While most of their contemporaries are attempting to liven up or modernize the blues with their recordings, Piazza and company do their best to retain the sweat of the roadhouse on record. The Mighty Flyers mine the terrain mapped out by Muddy Waters and Little Walter in the heyday of electric Chicago blues. Old school, to be sure, and completely refreshing for it, Beyond the Source proves that there is still life left in a form all but left for dead by the excesses of Eric Clapton and his alikes. Employing the services of the legendary Jim Dickinson for the production chores on a couple of tracks doesn't hurt, either; there is a funkiness to this recording rarely found on a contemporary blues release. Beyond the Source is surely a godsend for any fan of the classic Chicago blues sound. (Mike Johnson)