Album: Vintage Trouble, The Bomb Shelter Sessions (VintageTrouble)

Vintage Trouble's music harks back to the erotically-charged blues-rock of the 1970s, but with a funky edge that recalls The Black Crowes.

Signature song "Blues Hand Me Down" rides a rumbling R&B rock groove lashed with raw guitar, and kept in check by Ty Taylor's brusque assessment of his situation; subsequent numbers vary the rhythmic momentum – from the rumba-rock roll of "Nancy Lee" to the slow, sinuous funk-rock of "Jezzebella" – but the lyrical aim doesn't shift more than a degree or two from love, either yearned for, promised or abandoned. It's done with panache, if scant originality: Taylor's vocals have the terse, commanding sexuality of Paul Rodgers in his Free pomp, while the band manipulates the various blues and raunch-rock mannerisms with a swagger that Keef himself would be proud of.

DOWNLOAD THIS: Blues Hand Me Down; You Better Believe It