Shane Dwight

I missed Shane Dwight’s last appearance at the Big Room, but my neighbor was there. My absence prompted him to extol that performance as one of the best ever, anyplace, anywhere and in any genre. But even allowing for a bit of hyperbole on my neighbor’s part, I’m glad I’m going to have another shot at seeing Dwight when he returns to Chico in support of this album of new songs, all but one of them written by him, and all of them featuring his standout guitar work and razor-sharp lyrics. With the McCrary sisters and Bekka Bramlett singing backup on several tracks, this album plays like an homage to the best of the Rolling Stones. In fact, on a cut like “Love’s Last Letter,” you’ll think you’re actually listening to vintage Stones. And that’s high praise, indeed. Which is not to say that the album is warmed over and derivative. It brings a new generation’s energy to the ongoing blues and rock ’n’ roll party, with songs soaked in the pain of Dwight’s road-wrought divorce, expressed in lines he wrote as his marriage was headed south. Check him out and then tell everyone you know how much they’re missing out.