1 	Rocks And Gravel	2:08
2 	Florida 	4:12
3 	Lighthouse Keeper 	5:04
4 	Bye Bye Bird	3:21
5 	Blues March 	3:00
6 	Fried Fish 	4:24
7 	Child Of Circumstance 	7:33
8 	Tic Tac Toe 	
9 	Hard Time Killin' Floor	3:55
10 	Careless Love	4:17
11 	You Don't Have To Go	4:24

Double Bass – Terry Wilkins
Drums – Vince Maccarone
Guitar, Harmonica, Vocals, Cornet – Chris Whiteley
Piano – Jesse Whiteley
Vocals – Diana Braithwaite, Kala Braithwaite (tracks: 1, 8) 

To stay true to the blues idiom, style and atmosphere isn’t an easy task to pull off in such a excellent way as Diana and Chris have done here. A mixture of covers and originals stand side by side like they belong. Much care was taken for this project. The singing and music transport you to a porch on a dusty road down south or perhaps in a run down juke joint. You may find yourself trying to clean the dust off your shoes after giving this a listen. You just took a trip way down south without leaving the house. Chris’s acoustic and electric guitar playing has just the right amount of raggedness to give it that slightly sloppy and funky old time blues feel. Diana’s voice sounds like the blues, warm and rich.

The traditional “Rocks And Gravel” features only the vocals of Diana and Kala Braithwaite and is basically a gospel-tinged field holler. Some greasy good guitar energizes the easy rolling boogie of the original “Florida”. Slinky slide guitar underscores Diana’s earnest vocal on “Lighthouse Keeper”, a plea for guidance. Chris captures Sonny Boy Williamson’s(Rice Miller) herky-jerky harmonica style as the sole accompaniment to Diana’s vocal on “Bye Bye Bird”.

The full band nicely recreates the New Orleans groove on “Blues March”. Jesse Whitely plays Professor Longhair style piano and Chris plays cornet to contribute to the New Orleans sound. Chris contributes his only vocal on the original “Fried Fish”, an apt depiction of road house. His always perfectly suited slide guitar enhances the vibe. He winds the tune down with his blues harp…”Fried fish, rum and ginger ale”. “Child Of Circumstance”, a story song, at seven plus minutes is the longest song here. It’s taken at a slow and deliberate pace.

“Tic Tac Toe” is another tune about a juke joint. They flat out nail these kind of songs. This and “Fried Fish” are “too cool for school”. Jesse lends his able piano once again and it wouldn’t be complete without more slide goodness. Diana is accompanied by acoustic guitar on Skip James’ mournful “Hard Time Killin’ Floor”. “Careless Love”, a song closely identified with Lonnie Johnson is given a pretty straight reading. Chris’s cornet completes the jazzy feel. The simple and sparse instrumental backing of Jimmy Reed is nicely done on his “You Don’t Have To Go”.

Whether doing cover songs or their own this record sounds like of one piece. Their love and grasp of the blues just drips out of this album. If you are a lover of down-home blues, you’ve come to the right place. Tell me how you call your hound dog… ---Greg "Bluesdog" Szalony, bluesblastmagazine.com

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1. Cold And Lonely Night - 2:45
2. Birds That Whistle - 4:31
3. Great Big City - 2:48			play
4. Blessing In Disguise - 2:39		play
5. Travellin' Blues - 1:45
6. Mr.Subway Man - 2:51
7. No Longer Will I Roam - 3:20
8. The Drifter - 3:44
9. Box Car Blues - 4:17
10.In My Garden - 3:18
11.Don't Mistreat Me - 3:26
12.Leaving It All Behind - 1:49
13.Morning Sun - 2:57

Diana Braithwaite - Vocals
Chris Whiteley - Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, National Slide Guitar, Cornet, Washboard, Harp, Spoons
Al Cross - Drums
Terry Wilkins - Upright Bass
Drew Jurecka - Violin, Alto Saxophone
Jesse Whiteley – Piano

'Morning Sun' is an affectionate tribute to the classic Bluebird Records blues sounds of the 30s & 40s. Diana Braithwaite and Chris Whiteley (not to be confused with the late Chris Whitley) have created an album that embraces its influences and still retains its own originality. All acoustic and all original compositions, "Morning Sun" is a satisfying and enjoyable musical journey.

Diana Braithwaite is an authentic singer who has surfaced in the 2000s as not only a fine contemporary female vocalist, but one of very few Canadian based blues women. Born into a musical family in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Braithwaite's relatives from her mothers side arrived in the north country from the southern United States via the underground railroad. Her father was born Montreal, and faced discrimination and difficulty finding the kind of work he desired, eventually riding his bicycle collecting scrap metal, before the family was given an acre of rocky land to farm in the Glenallen area. She gravitated to singing by listening to acoustic, Delta style blues or country & western recordings. Her first group experience was with brothers Victor and Cecil and sister Charlane's band, while a breakaway solo career came about in her teenage years. Opening for John Lee Hooker at the Brunswick House in Toronto with the Chaser Blues Band, Braithwaite introduced her talent as a professional blues singer. Later on, Albert Collins invited Braithwaite on the road as a warm-up act for his band, then she followed up with collaborations including guitarists Mel Brown and Jeff Healey, and Eddy Clearwater, T-Model Ford, Robert Cray, Tracy Chapman, Big Bill Morganfield, Pinetop Perkins, and Buddy Guy.

In 1999, Braithwaite was chosen by Sarah McLachlan to open the Canadian version of Lilith Fair. As a solo artist, she recorded the album Carry My Name, and teamed with guitarist/cornetist/harmonicist Chris Whiteley to produce the acclaimed duet CDs Morning Sun (2007) and Night Bird Blues (2009,) both for the Electro-Fi label, tributes to vintage rural acoustic blues music of the 1930s and '40s. She is a recipient of the African-American Women In The Arts Award in Chicago, IL, while her original blues songs "Bad Luck Man" and "Blame It on the Bourbon" were featured on the soundtrack for the Gemini-award winning film Gracie, which received the Yorkton Golden Sheaf Award for Best Musical Score. ---Michael G. Nastos, allmusic.com

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1. It's A Brand New Day
2. All The Rubies
3. Judge And Jury Blues
4. Look Around Now
5. Over In A Hurry
6. Confectionary Baby
7. One Thing I Cannot Do
8. Night Bird Blues		play
9. Bumblebee's Blues		play
10. The Loving You Bring
11. Greedy Blues
12. Sweet Dreams Baby
13. The Heart Of Summertime

Personnel: 
Diana Braithwaite (vocals); 
Chris Whiteley (vocals, acoustic guitar, slide guitar, harmonica, trumpet); 
Bucky Berger (drums, drum); 
John Adames (drums); 
Drew Jurecka (violin, alto saxophone); 
John Sheard (piano); 
Victor Bateman (upright bass); 
John Adames (drum); Ryan A. Mills.

Night Bird Blues is the next chapter in Diana Braithwaite & Chris Whiteley’s wide ranging tribute to the Blues of the 1930’s and 40’s. Once again they have chosen to take an acoustic and original approach. Their horizons have expanded to not only include the “Bluebird” sound so lovingly captured on their widely acclaimed “MORNING SUN” CD, but also to pay tribute to and affectionately evoke some of the smoother Blues classics of that era. The songs are all original compositions; the singing and playing is top notch. The result is Night Bird Blues.

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