The Bluff City Backsliders (Yellow Dog 1032) arrange blues and hokum numbers by Howlin' Wolf, Sleepy John Estes, Charley Patton, and Blind Willie McTell for their eclectic lineup of piano, doghouse bass, drums, banjo, guitar, slide, trombone, and fiddle, taking blues back to an earlier time.  "Stay On the Right Side, Sister" rocks; a pair by the Memphs Jug Band ("Everybody's Talking About Sadie Green" and "Aunt Caroline Dyer Blues"), Bo Carter's "All Around Man," and McTell's "Let Me Play With Your Yo-Yo" are other highlights.  Coming not long after the success of O Brother, this retro exercise is well-timed and unquestionably interesting, balancing gravity and levity, verisimilitude and grotesque.