The Nick Moss Band: Lucky Guy! (Alligator/Southbound)

Blues aficionados probably only need to read one word here: Alligator.

That's the long-running label out of Chicago which seems to constantly unearth hard rockin' artists, increasingly a number of white musicians alongside greats like Joe Louis Walker, Shemekia Copeland and a catalogue which started in '71 with albums by Hound Dog Taylor and the House Rockers, Son Seals and Koko Taylor.

This fiery second album by longtime Alligatorman, guitarist-singer/songwriter Nick Moss and his band with harmonica player-singer Dennis Gruenling (their previous one came under the excellent title The High Cost of Low Living) doesn't move far from the house rockin' Alligator style.

As with the recent Coco Montoya and Kingfish albums (also on Alligator), things dig deeper when the slower soul light is turned on (here on Sanctified, Holy and Hateful) which suggests there is something on a template laid down for the artists: house rockin', some soul and barrelhouse, maybe funky country blues, downtempo acoustic blues (The Comet here) and so on to vary the diet.

Solid blues for the barroom.

You can hear Lucky Guy! on Spotify here