July 31 is now Big Joe Duskin Day in the city of Cincinnati, so ordered by mayor Charlie Luken upon this album's release. Duskin's had it coming: The pianist and vocalist had to wait until his 104-year-old Baptist preacher father passed away to begin playing the blues he so loved, but his work since then - especially his 1977 recording debut, Cincinnati Stomp - proves what Cincy knew back in the days before he made that promise. Specifically, that Joe's barrelhouse piano and booming voice are timeless.
And yet, with all that, Duskin doesn't sound like a bluesman with something to prove; these 16 songs make up a simple set, the kind of playlist one might have heard any veteran knocking out in a Midwestern club back in the day. In fact, there are only two originals - "Mean and Strange" and the autobiographical (and mostly spoken) "The Preacher and the Devil's Music" - and only one surprising cover in Johnny Horton's "North to Alaska" (given full boogie-woogie treatment until it starts walking all over the place). The only shocker is the inclusion of Peter Frampton, who comes alive on two lead guitar tracks; seems his wife's family lives in that area, so Frampton moved to the city, and, well, there you go. Veteran King Records sidemen Philip Paul and Ed Conley are the rhythm section, lending authenticity.
Duskin keeps it short and sweet most of the time, playing chestnuts like "Down the Road a Piece," "Key to the Highway," "Betty and Dupree," and "You're Gonna Miss Me" until someone starts fading them out after about a minute and a half. Did he tire of these songs as he played them, or did producers Larry Nager and William Lee Ellis think them too old-fashioned to be left alone? No matter. As living, breathing history, these sessions are instructive. And they ain't half-bad as music, either.