Album: The Steve Miller Band, Let Your Hair Down (Roadrunner)

Unlike some blues purists petrified by a laborious concern for authenticity, Steve Miller has always been able to apply a supple pop sheen to classic blues stylings, without detracting from their appeal.

But then, if T-Bone Walker taught you how to play the guitar behind your head while doing the splits when you were nine years old, you'd learn the balance between artistry and entertainment, too. The 10 blues standards of Let Your Hair Down were recorded at the same sessions that produced the likeable Bingo!, and are full of sly strategies – accenting the offbeat to bring a new tension to Muddy Waters's "Can't Be Satisfied", transforming Roscoe Gordon's "Just a Little Bit" into a sleek groove, etc. All topped off with Miller's customary double-tracked vocals and elegant guitar work, as charming as ever.

DOWNLOAD THIS Pretty Thing; Can't Be Satisfied; Just a Little Bit