Walter Trout has called him the best harmonica player on the planet and it’s not hard to understand why Will Wilde is highly regarded.
'The Blues is Still Alive' isn’t just the title; it’s a battle cry. Trout and Wilde come together on the blistering album opener, proving that the blues is still relevant and very much all about feel. The track has an improvisational edge to it, it's very organic. With the legendary bluesman and the young harmonica player joining forces for the track, they show that the future of the blues is certainly safe.
Often, albums can sound clinical, but this one captures the feel of a live gig. There’s something primal about the percussion that bounces off this record and encapsulates a live show. Wilde’s vocals are raspy enough to pass off as a road-weary musician, but it’s when he plays that harp that things shift gear.
Impressively, he plays the harmonica as a lead instrument, it’s never an appendage or an atmospheric arrangement: it’s front and centre and the star of the album. If anything you wonder if Wilde would prefer to cut out the lyrics of all these self-penned songs and do an album of instrumental harmonica jams. His style is certainly different than other blues/harmonica singers like Paul Jones, but both stay in the rootsier sphere of the blues. Jones is a clean player. Will Wilde has a rawness to his playing, and when he lets rip, it's exciting stuff.
The musicians on the album help keep the high-octane feel: Steve Rushton (Imelda May, Jeff Beck) on drums, Greg Coulson (Greg Coulson Band, Spiritualized, Morcheeba) on keys, Bobby Harrison (Cliff Richard, Brit Floyd) on guitar, and Russell Carr (Skin, The Blockheads) on bass. Lindsey Bonnick and Chloe Josephine of Brave Rival and Wilde's sister Dani Wilde also lend their vocal talents to the album.
Although the album sticks to traditional blues riffs and chord progressions, it allows Wilde the space to do his thing - which he does with aplomb. The energy is elevated from the get go, with only ‘Gypsy Woman’ and ‘Broken Dream Blues’ taking the foot off the gas. He has fun with it, too on tracks like the blues western, ‘Wild Man’. It’s an amusing play on words that taps into the hobo-road musician mystique, recounting this stranger with a lascivious eye as he wanders like an outlaw from town to town.
A terrific and authentic blues album that puts the genre in safe hands.
Saw WW supporting Walter Trout, he was awesome!