Poplar Jake - From the Delta to the Docks (2013)

Tracklist

01. See See Mama
02. Miss Etta
03. Whipping Boy
04. Milady
05. Pretty Peggy
06. Burned
07. 32-400
08. When I Get to Drinking
09. Five and Some Change
10. Tribiani Time
11. Sweet Marianne


Opening with "See See Mama", this album nails Poplar Jake's colours to the blues mast in no uncertain terms with a thundering Leadbelly-meets-Charlie-Patton 12 string and growling vocal. Traditional and personal themes vie for attention as the lyric conveys a time-honoured bluesman's complaint; "you made me love you,"he hollers, "but you ain't giving me none".
"Miss Etta" uses the blues formula in a more playful manner with breezy, jazz-inflected licks and a cheekily suggestive vocal. Hot on its heels comes "Whipping Boy", a tough, taut, declaiming protest blues with Z.Z. Birmingham's jack-hammer harmonica weaving in and out of Jake's resonator to evoke the early Chess sides of Muddy Waters with Little Walter.
After these three storming twelve-bar numbers comes "Milady" - the album's first departure from the textbook blues template. Here twin acoustic guitars interweave, and the tonality of the piece is more major-key, albeit with bluesy inflections. The lyric is more wistful than accusatory, and the changes more Neil Young than Skip James.
"Pretty Peggy" finds Jake firmly back in blues territory, this time evoking the spirit of John Lee Hooker with a paen to his departed mother. This is the only offering on this album which finds Jake playing electric guitar, and it is presented in a solo context; a de-tuned chocolate-brown tone offsetting the reverb-laden vocal.
"Burned", the album's centrepiece, owes more to Nick Drake or John Martyn than to the Delta school, but remains a blues in the true sense - a harrowing account of a man's struggle to make amends for past misdeeds and retain his sanity. Chilling harmonics begin and end a unique, extraordinary piece.
Returning to the 12-string, "32-400" sees Jake pushing out a walking bass figure of the sort beloved by barrelhouse pianists of the twenties and thirties, which later formed one of the cornerstones of rock'n'roll. "When I Get To Drinking finds him in a rueful mood, mournful bottleneck again evoking the young Muddy Waters, though the solo context presents us with the Muddy of Stovall's plantation rather than up-town Chicago. "Five And Some Change", short but sweet, showcases Jake's seldom-heard mandolin playing; another breezy blues, but again the mood is wistful, contrasting "Miss Etta"'s playfulness.
Then comes "Tribiani Time", its lyric perhaps a sumnation of all that has preceded it; mistakes, regrets, loves and friendships lost, a struggle to come to terms with one's own limitiations and failings, all against the stark backdrop of Mark Rae's exquisite bar-room piano - "one more hit from the bottle/don't make me go home" sings Jake in an attempt to drown his conscience - this is real three-in-the-morning stuff.
But as the smoke and liquor-fumes subside, a crisp mandolin takes us headlong into "Sweet Marianne", the album's closing track. Here the feel is more country-rock than blues, and the mood is one of determined optimism. Here the singer begins to regret and recant his misdeeds, and so begin

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