Ex-Blue Eyed Devils singer-guitarist Cotton pursued his muse from his Bay Area home to Clarksdale, Mississippi, for this solo debut. What he found in the Delta with some aid from producer Jimbo Mathus--who played guitar on Buddy Guy's last few albums and leads his own rockin' Knockdown Society--and guitar ace Big Jack Johnson was the inspiration to blend the essence of old-time string band music and pure country blues with his folk-inclined sound.

Cotton's not much of a storyteller, but his fleet picking style, delightfully raggedy vocal cords, and taste for flat-four rhythms propelled by loose-tuned snare drums create a juke joint party feel that makes for easy listening and serves covers of Skip James's "I'm So Glad" and John Hurt's "Louis Collins" well. The best cut is Cotton's own "Black Night," where his howlin' warnings about a cuckolded husband get slicing support from Johnson's thick fills and keening slide. And the album ends with the poignant wish "Goin' Back Home," where Mathus's slide resonator guitar helps brings Cotton's pining lyrics to life.