Vocalist/guitarist Chris Cotton puts a fresh, highly personal spin on vintage Delta blues with this sparkling collection of classics and originals cut at Jimbo Mathus’ Clarksdale studios. When doing such revered material as Mississippi John Hurt’s “Louis Collins,” Skip James’ “I’m So Glad” or Blind Willie McTell’s “Dying Crapshooter’s Blues,” Cotton injects each with enough vocal spice and flavor to make them far more interesting than stiff, deferential covers. But he’s even more inspiring doing such fervent originals as “Morgan City, Mississippi,” or “Blues For Big Bill.” On these, his narrative flair and gift for crafting compelling solos and inventive transitional passages emerge, punctuating a lead voice that’s sometimes haunting and on other occasions spellbinding. Big Jack Johnson adds riveting slide guitar on “Black Night” and Mathus also joins the proceedings on several instruments, but it’s Cotton’s furious singing and playing that prove the highlight of I Watched The Devil Die.