The Marshals - Les Courriers Session (2016)

At the dawn of a blue night, one of those hot and moist moments, where time stops in a cloud of dust…A wobbly veranda, an orangeade and a bourbon, nothing in the horizon, nothing but the grooves of a dry and harsh America, and a guitar. Between dusk and dawn, ghosts slip through the corn plants and one can recognize the founding fathers, Hendrix first and foremost, but not only. Even if famous duos have grated, rolled and scraped the blues of the Delta since the advent of the White Stripes, Black Keys and others, there is something else about the Marshals’ blues rock brew, a duo that has balls, joined by a sparkling and filthy harmonica, fierce enough to enhance a bass/drum equipped with a John Deere V6, still in its original condition.

Preceded by AYMF, an album that was recorded at home with great attention to detail, written and performed with the heart, taking the time and authenticity that make real things, the nine titles of the “Courriers session” wade through the Mississippi muds and mire, passing on the way over the plains of the Middle West, where you could bump into a Stevie Ray Vaughan as well as a Fogerty brother away from Creedence or from O’Brother. The hand is heavy and strikes hard, on a masterful duple time, dry and rough as if performed by Petty, and rich enough to set an old ZZ Top on fire, at the time of Fandango. And when the stroke finally arrives, draped in a beautiful flanging, or a chorus full of stars, one’s heart beats and shivers and fills itself with love for that America we like so much. Anyway, if Robert Rodriguez is thinking about a “real” sequel to his night in hell, or if Tarantino has no idea for his next soundtrack, take my advice : the Marshals, Bourbonnais, France.