Chicken Snake - You Must Be the Devil

I've ranted'n'raved about Chicken Snake ever since first discovering them back in 2014 or so, most likely through mutual friends on Facebook. Their stripped down, bluesy sound - 2 guitars, 2 vocals, 1 drummer - has resonated from me from the first note and on this, their fourth album, they continue with their New Orleans-based, swamp-drenched sound.

Led by Jerry Teel (Honeymoon Killers, Boss Hog, Knoxville Girls and many more) and his wife Pauline, they are joined by 2nd guitarist Josh Lee Hooker and Jessica Melain on a minimal drum kit to follow in the footsteps of Jerry's previous combos while maintaining their own blues/gospel groove.

The opener, "Trouble" starts off with ferocious guitar joined by Walter Daniels guesting on harmonica, which somehow sounds like a horn section, giving it a tough, soulful swing. For the title track - apparently an original and not a variation on any of the other songs with similar names - they intertwine a couple of cool guitar licks around Jerry'n'Pauline's voices over a mid-tempo stomp. "Sick" has almost a punkiness/no-waviness to it and reminds me of something that is on the tip on my typewritten tongue, but I can't place it - oh, actually an old track by LA's Backbiter, so most likely not an influence on these cats, although you never know! Or, maybe they both "borrowed" from the same source. They bring down the raucousness but not the intensity for the quietly menacing drone of "Blind Man Blues" (with Jerry adding some sparse harp work) and then the side one closer is Link Wray's great "Fire and Brimstone" (also done by the Nomads), given the Chicken Snake treatment with cool vocal interplay and a rave up ending.

Side Two's "Black Water Blues" is a riff-laden, danceable garage number, followed by another moody, riff'n'slide tune, "Midnight Call", with another slitherin' groove and more harp from Jerry. Some nicely, piercingly melodic licks bounce off of guitar chords for "Fortune Teller Blues", tremelo'd guitars dominate the haunting "Worried Blues" which actually makes me think of a bluesy Velvet Underground (I suppose that's not that much of a stretch considering Jessica's Mo Tucker-ish drumming) doing a (much!) more melodic "Sister Ray", in that it is a simple yet compelling (seemingly) improvised number. The ghost of Hank Williams appears for their terrific take on his "Honky Tonk Blues", which shows the close connection between (true) country and the blues and their interpretive skills.

More greatness from Chicken Snake! I've said it before - I dig everything I've heard by this group. I just hope they keep it up and eventually come out west so I can see them live!