Rod Price - Open (2000)

This is the first ever solo disc from this former Foghat lead guitarist, and it is a return to the music that he loves the best. The music here is the blues as seen and translated by the English guitarists who started the revitalization of the blues as a viable medium. He revisits the standards of many of the old blues masters: Sonny Boy Williamson, Robert Johnson, and Slim Harpo, to name a few. He takes his slide guitar to the forefront as the lead instrument on these, leaving the lead vocals to his old buddy and harp player, Shakey Vick (a happy and long-overdue reunion). The interplay between these two is a pleasure to hear; listen to the way they complement and play off each other on the Chester Burnett standard “Sitting on Top of the World.”
There is nothing earthshakingly new here, but there is some of the finest lead guitar work ever, with a band that allows plenty of room while at the same time giving good solid support. It brings back and adds to that wonderful style that was first brought to listeners by Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Peter Green, and the rest of the British guitarists.(Bob Gottlieb)