Just like its title, Bill Sims’ eponymous PBS / Warner Brothers debut is unpretentious and solid: it’s this singer-guitarist’s personal overview of the blues. Sims’ voice at its most soulful suggests a blues Gil Scott-Heron or Lou Rawls — smooth, deep rather than flashy, and bittersweet. Some of his guitar solos somehow sound like that too. He transforms “Nobody’s Fault But Mine” into a backporch banjo stomp, and tunes by Big Bill Broonzy and Charley Patton into shifty New Orleans second-line funk. He also breaks down a mournful version of Howlin’ Wolf’s “Mr. Airplane Man,” and brings onboard saxophonist Chico Freeman to intensify the slow-burning R&B heat in “Smoky City.” – Chris Slawecki
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