My Road

Even if he never played another lick on his guitar, “Steady Rollin’” Bob Margolin has earned his place in blues history due mainly to the seven years (1973-1980) he spent with Muddy Waters before leaving to start his own band. Margolin has also won several blues awards, so given his background I was surprised by My Road. Forgoing the blues for most of the album in favor of a pop-song format, he focuses on his trials and tribulations and his mournful (and often shaky) vocals make his stories even sadder. On “Goodnight,” a slow, bittersweet account of an ended relationship—he grieves that “goodbye” is too irrevocable. “My Whole Life” recounts the pleasures/pains of a musician—“For every note I’ve played there are 50 years of shows/2 million miles of highways and a passion that just grows.” His evocative slide guitar surfaces on “Devil’s Daughter” and Tad Walters’ harmonica livens up a few tracks, most notably on the peppy blues “Feelin’ Right Tonight,” a song that ought to satisfy his many blues fans—it pleased me!