Shake 'Em On Down: A Tribute To Mississippi Fred McDowell

For her third release in her *Mentors* series, Rory Block honors Mississippi McDowell by offering inspired renditions of his tunes as well as a brace of originals based upon his life and music. The full range of McDowell’s lyric moods as well as his signature driving riffs are captured in sensitive treatments of “Kokomo Blues,” “Worried Mind” and a gender-switched “Good Morning Little School Girl.” Block’s gospel-slanted interpretations of “Woke Up This Morning” and her African-themed “Ancestral Home” are indicative of the imagination as well as the expertise she brings to this project. Block’s self-composed “Steady Freddy” (an account of McDowell’s early days) and “Mississippi Man” (depicting her encounter with Fred as a teenager) are vivid story-songs firmly in the Delta blues tradition. As always, Block’s slide-guitar work is awe-inspiring in its blade-sharp thrust and command of complex rhythms. McDowell is surely smiling down on Block for making *Shake ‘Em On Down* such an accomplished and loving tribute to his memory.