The Mad Dog Blues Duo offers an innovative take on contemporary acoustic blues. With Sean Bennight on guitar and Mad Dog Friedman on harmonica, the creative energy is palpable. The Mad Dog Blues Duo gives new vibrancy to the classic guitar-harmonica blues duo sound while drawing inspiration from an eclectic mix of contemporary and traditional blues masters. Take a walk with the Mad Dog Blues Duo. It’s like exploring an exciting, new world of original blues in a favorite old pair of shoes.
River City Roots is Mad Dog Blues’ sixth album. Performed by the guitar-harmonica-duo version of Mad Dog Blues, this live-in-the-studio album captures the feel of St. Louis front-porch-blues. To listen you can stream for free on Spotify. You may also listen on Tidal, YouTube Music or Apple Music. You can download high-quality audio files, cover art and bonus track from BandCamp.
Now when you're playing as a duo rather than your usual band combination, the challenges are much greater. There's no place to hide. You have to be precise. You have to work together. You almost have to be psychic to make it work. In this case there's guitar, vocal and harmonica. You can hear the guitar carrying the tempo and laying down a tune to follow. Over this is the vocal, timed to perfection with the guitar and then the harmonica adding embellishments between the vocals. Now that's all before you look at the song itself. The song is a classic blues theme of loss and persistence in the face of disappointment. I think they've absolutely succeeded in creating their front porch context, with a simple, effective piece you can see being sung in a relaxing evening. This one's going straight to the pool room.
~ John Lamp, DJ at 94.7 FM on the Pulse in Geelong, Australia, posted March 6, 2023.