Alligator Records shows a different side of its house-rocking face on this 13-cut collection of acoustic blues. While Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson and Bukka White don't appear here, other performers – some of whom one normally associates with overdriven electricity – are. Buddy Guy is present, as is Stevie Ray Vaughan. Koko Taylor's "The Man Next Door" is here and it's one of her greatest performances on record. In addition, Johnny Winter, who was no stranger to a National Steel string bottleneck earlier in his career, returns to give it another go, and the true roots doctor Corey Harris is here with "God Don't Ever Change," and Carey and Lurrie Bell with "Stop Running Around." Guy's "Hi Heel Sneakers" is terrific as is Winter's "Evil on My Mind." But it's those that are normally associated with the acoustic blues like Harris, Saffire – The Uppity Blues Women, Cephas & Wiggins, John Jackson and the legendary Sonny Terry who come off best, bringing the true rhythm and mystery with them into their songs.

Son of Louisiana bluesman Raful Neal, young Kenny had some big shoes to fill, but he's been more than up to the task. He plays bass, guitar, trumpet, piano and guitar, and worked in Toronto with the Downchild Blues Band as well as with his siblings in the Neal Brothers Band before returning to Louisiana in 1987 to cut his debut, Bio on the Bayou. Since then Neal has continued to blend his swampy roots with soul and R&B to put his own contemporary spin on the blues. Let Life Flow finds the 50-year-old bluesman in fine voice delivering four originals and seven covers. Neal accents "Louisiana Stew" with a long, jaunty, country flavored harp solo, while on "Fly Away" he drops a bit of sage spiritual advice into the mix. His Memphis-style guitar fills accent the tune, but it's his gospel drenched vocals that standout.

This is Neal's third album for Telarc and it's definitely one of his best releases to date. He's long been known for his Louisiana blues groove, but this CD will force critics and fans to reassess their take on Neal's sound. Tracks like "Two Wrongs Don't Make a Right," "Little Brother (Make a Way)," "I'm The Man Your Mama Told You About," "Loving on Borrowed Time," and "Deja Vu" are robust numbers that variously evince Chicago and Memphis influences, while the title track is a gorgeous bit of soul music that showcases Neal's mature voice. In fact, one of the major highlights of this collection is Neal's vocal work. He has become an exceptional blues singer, with a powerful and wonderfully nuanced voice. Add his excellent lead guitar work and make note of the fact that he wrote, or co-authored, nine of the 12 songs on this disc. The guy has become a multiple-threat bluesman and this album, in demonstrating that, has to be seen as a pivotal point in Neal's discography.

Jamaican-born bluesman Kirkland has always stretched the boundaries of his music and on this outing moves further into contemporary waters. Guest stars abound on this album, and Kirkland's idiosyncratic guitar work is answered and abetted by appearances from Tab Benoit, Sonny Landreth, Kenny Neal, Cub Koda, Christine Ohlman and G.E. Smith, as well as driving work from drummer Jaimoe and organist Richard Bell. The material is all over the road, but particularly noteworthy as highlights are Kirkland's take on Elmore James' "Done Somebody Wrong," "Snake In the Grass," "Nightgirl," and the title track.

This energetic, foot-tapping, no-filler album from the multi-talented Kenny Neal is a sheer delight, showcasing his fine skills on guitar and harmonica and his rich, powerful voice. Blues Fallin' Down Like Rain starts off with a bang, with an up-tempo rendition of the classic "Big Boss Man." Things settle down with "Shadow on the Moon," which features some tasteful guitar work and smooth, excellent vocals. In fact, Neal's voice is one of this album's major strengths, moving smoothly from richly sung melodies to expressive growls just as the music requires. The highlight of this album is the title track, a slow, lonely ballad with excellent guitar work and backing vocals. However, neither is as powerful as Neal's singing; when he pulls out all the stops, the results are impressive. Highly, highly recommended.

Kenny Neal is such a terrific singer that he can make any kind of blues sound good. On Hoodoo Moon, Neal does the Delta blues justice on a version of Elmore James's "It Hurts Me Too," and does a fine job on the Chicago blues with "I'm a Blues Man." He even pulls off some James Brown funk on "Just One Step." Nonetheless, Neal makes his most valuable contributions when he allows his Louisiana roots to show. On "Don't Fix Our Love," for example, Neal lays his blues-harmonica solo and gravelly vocal over a New Orleans second-line parade rhythm. Lucky Peterson plays the Professor Longhair-like piano part expertly and does the same with the Fats Domino-like piano triplets on "Why Should I Stay." "The Real Thing" and the album's title track boast the slippery shuffle beat of upstate Louisiana's swamp blues.

The multitalented Kenny Neal offers up a real treat with Bayou Blood, which features mostly original songs seasoned with a very few covers. Neal's guitar work is excellent and his smoky voice is a pleasure, but it's his harp playing that really shines, especially on "Howling at the Moon" and "Big City Ways." There's plenty of variety, from the fast-paced shuffle of "Right Train, Wrong Track" to the slower, attitudinal "Gonna Put You out of My Misery" to the smooth "Smoke Signals." "That Knife Don't Cut No More," "Do I Have to Go That Far?" and the title track are especially memorable, and a tasty cover of "You Ain't Foolin' Me" closes this album with style.

Backed by a punchy horn section and sizzling rhythms, Neal didn't suffer from any sophomore jinx. Between Neal, his bass-playing co-producer Bob Greenlee, and drummer Jim Payne, there's some very crafty songwriting going on here – "Any Fool Will Do," "Bad Check," and "Can't Have Your Cake (And Eat It Too)" are among the standouts.

The debut release for the second-generation bayou blues guitarist/harpist, whose gruff-before-their-time vocals retain their swamp sensibility while assuming a bright contemporary feel that tabs him as a leading contender for future blues stardom.

Homesick for the Road provides a showcase for three fine blues singer/guitarists. The recording is clean and crisp, as is typical of the Telarc label, and the music cooks from start to finish. This disc provides an excellent introduction to each performer, with ample opportunities for each to shine. Debbie Davies brings to mind Bonnie Raitt, with her appealing vocal timbre and bluesy delivery. The youthful Benoit sings with an authority beyond his 31 years, making Screamin' Jay Hawkins' classic "I Put a Spell on You" his own. Kenny Neal has the scruffy, soulful delivery of a man who knows what the blues are all about. His "I've Been Mistreated" sounds like a late '60s slice of Muscle Shoals soul. All three of the co-leaders are excellent guitarists, and the band is solid and tight. Homesick for the Road rolls down the car window for an enticing look at three relatively young performers carrying the blues torch into the future.

Kenny Neal began the project that led to this record in 2002, and it was originally intended to be a tribute to the music of Slim Harpo, whose own languid, atmospheric recordings are the very definition of swamp blues. With Slim's good friend (and Kenny Neal's father) Raful Neal handling most of the vocals, and, of course, the harmonica work, and with some of the members of Harpo's band also on-board, ten tracks were recorded before the elder Neal was diagnosed with bone cancer. Raful Neal died on September 1, 2004, and when Kenny Neal eventually returned to the project tapes, the album had turned into a tribute to Raful. as well…

Being the oldest son of Louisiana harmonica legend Raful Neal and having Lazy Lester, Buddy Guy, and Slim Harpo as family friends and frequent household guests meant Kenny Neal literally grew up with the blues, the swamp variety and otherwise, and his career as such has been all about plying the family business. A pretty good harp player himself (he was still a toddler when he was given his first harmonica by Slim Harpo), Neal has also developed into a sleek, economical, and graceful electric guitarist, and thanks to songs like the title track here, “Hooked on Your Love,” and the wise and beautiful “Bitter with the Sweet,” he has also become a skillful songwriter. This set isn’t quite as powerful as his previous Let Life Flow album from 2008, but only by a slight degree, and it’s clear that Neal has hit his mature stride in the past couple of years…

Another in the remarkably consistent Alligator catalog of Kenny Neal that strikingly captures his contemporary Baton Rouge blues sound. He gets a little hot help from the Horny Horns - alto saxist Maceo Parker and trombonist Fred Wesley - who once filled a smiliar role behind the Godfather of Soul himself, James Brown. Two songs find Neal going the unplugged route, just as he had performed them in the Broadway musical Mule Bone.

On Kenny Neal's third Telarc release, One Step Closer, he combines the Louisiana musical traditions he grew up listening to with a wide range of contemporary material. Among the 12 tracks are soul-blues renditions of Bob Dylan's "Walk Out in the Rain," Nick Lowe's "High on a Hilltop," and John Hiatt's "Lover's Will." Neal's developing skills as a songwriting have been convincingly affected by roots rock and Americana, as showcased on "Backdoor Tipper," "No More One More Chance," "Whiskey Tears," and "She Ain't Happy Unless She's Sad."