Plays Blues, Ballads & Favorites

iTunes Review

Jimmie Vaughan’s last solo album, 2001’s GRAMMY-winning Do You Get The Blues? still feels like his last solo album. Plays Blues, Ballads and Favorites is more in line with 2007’s collaboration with Omar Kent Dykes, On the Jimmy Reed Highway, as once again Vaughan pays tribute to the bluesmen who came before him. This collection of covers, ranging from Jimmy Reed (“Come Love” with Lou Ann Barton) to Roy Milton’s “RM Blues” through Willie Nelson’s “Funny How Time Slips Away” show Jimmie Vaughan as the ultimate fan: one who can take his worship of the old ways and turn it into a modern tribute with plenty of cool retro stylings and purist ambitions. Vaughan’s guitar playing remains the gold standard, even when he is at his most restrained. His ability to get the most out of his band is unquestionable. “I Miss You So,” “Send Me Some Lovin’” and “How Can You Be So Mean” have the sound of the old R&B and blues albums that inspired them. Still not the solo album his fans keep waiting on, but a great collection of tunes nonetheless.