Charlie Musselwhite To Release The Well Aug. 24

Charlie Musselwhite will release The Well on August 24, his first new album since being inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in May, joining a crowded day for premier blues releases.  Ronnie Earl’s Spread The Love and Duke Robillard’s Passport To The Blues will also be released the same day.

The 13-track set will be released on Alligator Records and marks his first studio recording since his Blues Music Award-winning Album Of The Year Delta Hardware in 2007.   

In addition to his familiar role as vocalist and harmonica master, he contributes guitar on two of the albums tracks.  Musselwhite also wrote 12 of the 13 tracks on the album, sharing a writing credit with Zoe Wood on “Dig The Pain.”  The liner notes he wrote for the record suggest The Well might be among the most personal projects of his career.  “Dig The Pain” and “The Well” both reference his struggle with alcoholism and the events in his life that helped lead him to 22 years of sobriety.  “Cook County Blue” recalls one of the times he was arrested in Chicago and was sentenced to jail time.  Mavis Staples provides backing vocals on “Sad And Beautiful World,” a song inspired by his mother’s 2005 murder in Memphis.  

The Well is deeper than those deep troubles and hurts with songs like “Where Hwy 61 Runs” and “Clarksdale Getaway” recalling fondly Musselwhite’s youth in the Delta and “Sonny Payne Special,” dedicated to his longtime friend and famous DJ of the venerable King Biscuit radio show.

I didn’t think March 17 could be topped for blues releases with new records from Nick Moss, Kilborn Alley Blues Band, Cash Box Kings, Matthew Stubbs, and Peter Karp & Sue Foley all being released that day.  Musselwhite, Earl, and Robillard are three stout names.  2010 is shaping up to be an epic year for the blues and expensive one for me.  I need to start saving now.  There’s still time for someone else to get in on August 24.

1. Rambler's Blues
2. Dig the Pain
3. The Well
4. Where Hwy 61 Runs
5. Sad And Beautiful World
6. Sonny Payne Special
7. Good Times
8. Just You, Just Blues
9. Cadillac Women
10. Hoodoo Queen
11. Clarksdale Getaway
12. Cook County Blue
13. Sorcerer’s Dream