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Review
At 88 and on his 36th studio album, John Mayall is still capable of surprising.
The veteran Bluesbreaker closes the Sun is Shining Down not with a groan but with a title track that celebrates his good fortune.
“And I’m so glad/the sun is shining down on me/got a home in California/and no place I would rather be,” Mayall - who will retire from the road after a final run ending in March - sings over Carolyn Wonderland’s understated guitar work.
A former Bluesbreaker herself, Wonderland is but one of several guests on the Sun is Shining Down. The biggest surprise is the presence of violinist Scarlet Rivera - best known for her work with Bob Dylan - who lends a bit of whimsy to “Got to Find a Better Way” and “Deep Blue Sea,” which comes off as an unexpected sequel to Octopus’s Garden.”
“Go underwater and see another world of green/fishes go by and I get to wondering where they’ve been,” Mayall sings.
Lest anyone worry Mayall has lost the blues, fret not. Mayall has not lost the blues.
With adroitly arranged horn charts and guitar-playing mates like Melvin Taylor - who, as Wonderland’s replacement, killed one Mayall’s 2021 tour - and does so again on “Hungry and Ready” and “Driving Wheel” - Marcus King, Mike Campbell and Jake Shimabukuro, whose contributions to “One Special Lady” are particularly acrobatic; searing with a light touch, the Sun is Shining Down is a blues album at heart.
One that happens to be full of surprises as old dog Mayall shows off some new tricks.
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— Kristopher Weiss, jambands.com
Product Details
Recorded when Mayall was 88 years old, this album stands as a testament to the enduring creative force of the man who launched the careers of Eric Clapton, Peter Green, and Mick Taylor through his legendary Bluesbreakers. Mayall has never stopped working, never stopped discovering talent, and this gathering of collaborators feels less like a studio session and more like a natural extension of that same restless curatorial spirit he's carried since the British blues explosion of the 1960s.
On his 2022 album, The Sun is Shining Down, Blues legend John Mayall teams up with a stellar cast to deliver a funky soulful affair punctuated by brass, violins, harmonica and electric ukulele. Special guests include, The Heartbreakers' Mike Campbell, fast rising roots rocker Marcus King, Americana icon Buddy Miller, Scarlet Rivera of Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Review, Chicago blues guitar mainstay Melvin Taylor and Hawaiian ukulele star Jake Shimabukuro. Also on hand are Mayall's longtime dynamic Chicago rhythm section of Greg Rzab on bass guitar and Jay Davenport on drums with Austin's multi-talented and charismatic Carolyn Wonderland on guitar. Recorded at Robby Krieger's (The Doors) Horse Latitudes studio with Grammy nominated Producer Eric Corne, The Sun is Shining Down is Mayall's 5th studio album for Forty Below Records, a fruitful partnership that began with 2014's A Special Life.
Tracklist
1. Hungry And Ready (5:00)
2. Can't Take No More (3:45)
3. I'm As Good As Gone (4:23)
4. Got To Find A Better Way (5:00)
5. Chills And Thrills (5:20)
6. One Special Lady (4:18)
7. A Quitter Never Wins (4:33)
8. Deep Blue Sea (4:25)
9. Driving Wheel (3:41)
10. The Sun Is Shining Down (5:20)
UPC: 762183630725
Label: Forty Below
Release Date: 1.28.22
Format: CD
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