Five Points Band

The slow and sometimes painful (Jon Spencer Blues Explosion) rebirth of the blues is one of the bright spots on the modern music scene. The New York-based Five Points Band is one of the more brilliant of those lights. It’s led by Robin “Hammer” Ludwig, the goldsmith who designs and fashions High Times’ Cannabis Cup and whose 35 years in the music business are indented on his face like creases in an old roadmap. Ludwig pays homage to such old bluesmen as Mississippi John Hurt, Skip James, Blind Willie Johnson and Robert Johnson without imitating, shredding or mutilating. Five Points Band’s original songs are an extension of the Delta kings, but the mud on their boots is from the Hudson River, not the Mississippi; the band plays deep country blues even though it’s from a big city. I doubt that Ludwig ever gave a serious listen to the commercial patter that is Chicago blues. A diamond of a CD.