Robert Cage - Can See What You're Doing (1998)

Praise be to Fat Possum Records for enlivening the blues tradition almost single-handedly in the '90s. Flagship artists R.L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough, with their jagged, raw sound, are the templates for most Fat Possum releases. Like many of his labelmates, Robert Cage is a senior citizen hailing from Mississippi, who kept the blues flame burning throughout a lifetime of day jobs and poverty. Cage is as unadorned and authentic a singer/guitarist as Burnside or Kimbrough, equally at home with the barnburning electric guitar-and-drums approach of "Get Outta Here" or the fingerpicked folk-blues of "Goodnight Irene." Occasionally, Cage (who's affectionately referred to in the liner notes as a "grunter") recalls Joseph Spence with his guttural vocal style and forceful acoustic picking. Like Spence, Cage forsakes fatalism for a quiet but unshakeable faith in the Lord's salvation, and it's this faith that makes his debut album more than just a romp through some dusty old tunes. ~AMG