1 	Stop Complaining 	
2 	Wake The Spirit 	
3 	Anything If I Could 	
4 	Child Of The Universe 	
5 	Take Your Time 	
6 	Don't You Steal My Money 	
7 	Can't Stay Here Forever 	
8 	Way Down South 	
9 	Imelda 	
10 	Cuddle Inn 	
11 	You're Looking Good 	
12 	Goin' Down To The River

The blues, from a technical standpoint, is as simple as music gets, three chords, one scale and a shuffle rhythm and one is well on their way to building up their blues repertoire. But, for such a “simple” music, it is surprising at how many people miss the key emotion that makes the blues the legendary music that it is. At heart, the blues is nothing without a strong emotional proponent behind every bent note, every dominant chord and every twelve-bar recap, and when it is done right, there is something magical about the blues that few other genres can capture. Chicago based blues artist Harmonica Hinds definitely gets this concept, and his album Anything If I Could is filled with everything that makes the blues great.

Whereas the blues has taken a turn towards the more technically proficient artists in recent years, including guitar virtuosos Johnny Lang, Joe Bonamassa, and Kenny Wayne Shepherd, this newfound focus has not only opened doors for artists of a similar nature to walk through, but has also left a taste in modern blues audiences for a more laidback approach to the genre. Hinds satiates this hunger with his relaxed and high-emotion approach to blues. Songs such as “Cuddle Inn” are a good example of everything that makes Hinds’ music great. The song is based around a strong shuffle beat, and the harmonica and guitar solos are notable as much for the notes that they don’t play as the ones they do. By effectively using space in his playing, Hinds creates an atmosphere of both suspense and interaction during the track. Relying on the blues foundation of call and response interaction, Hinds allows each line to breathe before he moves onto his next idea, bringing a sense of organic flow to his phrases that might have been lacking had he tried to relying more handedly on his chops rather than his ears and musical instinct.

Now, don’t confuse laidback and simplified with boring and monotonous. In fact it is just the opposite. Take a song like “You’re Looking Good.” Here, Hinds kicks back on a slow shuffle groove, with some tasty guitar fills backing his Tom Waits style vocals and just enough harmonica work behind the melody to keep the listener wondering what’s coming next. While other artists might have been tempted to fill this space with long feats of fret board gymnastics and screaming harmonica work, Hinds plays with each moment of silence in the same way a skilled painter uses the bare spots on his canvas. These are not “blank” moments that have yet to be filled. They act as musical frames, enclosing and showcasing the moments that Hinds and company create. Listening to the interaction between notes and rests in this ensemble is as entertaining as it gets, which is a lesson that a lot of blues players could learn from.

Anything If I Could has everything that makes the blues great. The songs are well-written, the band is tight and firmly in the pocket on every track, and the ensemble understands that the blues goes beyond three chords and 12 bars. It is about the emotional intent behind each note, something that these musicians bring to the fold on every track. Though the blues catalogue is full of great artists and albums, this record deserves its shot at competing with the big boys. It is a great way to add a new name to even the most complete blues record collection. ---Matthew Warnock, cdbaby.com

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 1. Wake The Spirit - 3:59
 2. Goin Down To The River - 6:03
 3. It's So Cold - 8:28
 4. You Got It Good - 3:42
 5. Take Your Time - 6:16
 6. Stop Complaining - 5:50
 7. Imelda - 4:58
 8. Harmonica Hinds Shuffle - 5:03
 9. Don't You Still My Money - 5:00
10. Can't Stay Here For Ever - 4:00
11. That Old Dichotomy - 6:33
12. Connected With The Sun - 4:54

Mervyn "Harmonica" Hinds has been a regular on the Chicago blues scene for over thirty years, with the occasional recording session behind artists such as Koko Taylor, John Primer, and Eddie Taylor Jr., but very little under his own name. This self-produced effort, with Taylor Jr. and Tom Holland on guitars and a first-call rhythm section of bassist Greg McDaniel and drummer Kenny Smith should help to bring some long-merited attention Hinds'way.

The group steps out smartly with the Little Walter-style instrumental Wake The Spirit to open the set before Hinds steps up to the vocal mic on Goin' Down To The River, a brisk shuffle in a Jimmy Reed bag with Taylor Jr. taking his dad's guitar part. The slow blues It's So Cold features some nice Walters-influenced slide but at 8:28 drags on a mite long. Things pick up again with You Got It Good, an instrumental featuring chromatic harp and a distinctive surging beat. Next up is the after hours instrumental Take Your Time, with slide in the Robert Nighthawk/Earl Hooker mode. Stop Complaining takes us back to Eddie Taylor territory before the stripped-down Imelda and an aptly titled Harmonica Hinds Shuffle.The band nails the Howlin' Wolf rhythm of Don't You Steal My Money, with slide from the Elmore James school this time. Hinds turns philosophical on the album's last three cuts, contemplating his mortality on Can't Stay Here For Ever and That Old Dichotomy before finishing with a Connected To The Sun that would not have been out of place on Sun Ra's Saturn label.

This is one of the most enjoyable albums in the classic Chicago blues style to come down the pike lately-let's hope that the title should be taken to mean "finally"as in "at last," and not as in "the last." ---Jim DeKoster, harmonicahinds.com

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