| James Blood Ulmer is in the midst of a career revival—an artistic renaissance if you will. A new generation of music fans have discovered his music, while simultaneously longtime fans from throughout his 40-year career have shown a renewed fascination with the iconoclastic genius. His previous two recordings, Memphis Blood: The Sun Sessions and No Escape From The Blues: The Electric Lady Sessions led to much recognition, including a Grammy Award nomination, Rolling Stone Magazine “Best Album” honors, a performance at Martin Scorsese blues celebration concert at Radio City Music Hall and high profile appearances with the likes of Government Mule, Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks. On Birthright, his latest studio album, Ulmer goes it alone. It’s just he and his guitar singing and playing 12 of the most stark, personal and spellbinding songs he’s ever recorded. The blues hasn’t sounded this fresh in a long, long time. It’s clearly the work of an American music legend continuing to reinvent himself, while remaining as relevant today as at any point in his long and distinguished career. “…these dozen tracks sound like they were played by the holy offspring of Chuck Berry and Robert Johnson... by far the most personal blues album the guitarist has ever recorded.”
– Robert Fontenot, OffBeat Magazine |