R.D. Olson and his band have made a very good album, Keep Walking Woman. Olson is originally from Minnesota and currently resides in Prescott, AZ. He won the 2014 Arizona Blues Challenge and the 2015 Northern Arizona Blues Challenge, advancing to the famed IBCs in Memphis each year. He was inducted into the Arizona Blues Hall of Fame in 2015 and is currently the Vice President of the Arizona Blues Hall of Fame. The players include R. D. on harp and vocals, Darryl Porras on guitar, Jamie Waldron on stand up bass, Robert Sellani on drums, and Eric Williams on piano. The playing is crisp and fresh, blues with an eye towards both the future and the past, with a touch of jazzy flavor here and there, and the singing and the songwriting are spot on. R. D.'s vocals and harp remind me in several places of Charlie Musselwhite, which in my own mind is high praise. I enjoy every song on this disc. But I have been playing "Baby Boomer Blues" on my Mo' Blues Show--it is a driving number which exhibits the talents of everybody in the band. Another personal favorite is "I Miss New Orleans," a slower song on which Porras and Williams shine, and where Olson's harmonica is shades of Kim Wilson or Big Walter Horton.
Nothing I can write will "explain" this music better than this quote by Joseph Timmons in a review for IndiePulse Music:
"Keep Walking Woman by R.D. Olson whisks you away to a place known only by real blues troubadours, the dark and smokey whiskey joints and beer halls, back alleys of the French quarter the Texas oil fields, the lonely plantations and the high line boudoirs. With Harmonica and Slide Guitar, channeling influences like Muddy Waters, Thorpe, Leadbelly and those that invented a music that bears the soul for all to see."
Re-read that a couple of times and you will get the idea. Go buy this cd, and listen to it a couple of times, and it will soon become a favorite. Wonderful work.
Buy this release at http://soundcloud.com/r-d-olson
