Does anyone still claim that a white man can't sing the blues? I don't think so! Moreland & Arbuckle show the lie to that old saw. From the first notes of Aaron Moreland's bottleneck resonator, and Dustin Arbuckle's overblown harp, to the rough and ready rhythm of Brad Horner's drums on the classic Hound Dog Taylor tune "Gonna Send You Back To Georgia" they show their stuff. This one rocks like a melon-farmer!

The album is called 1861 in tribute to the year their home state of Kansas became a state.

Arbuckle and Moreland wrote all the songs save for the Hound Dog cover, an R.L. Burnside tune and one by Ryan Taylor. Oh, and the final "Wiser Jam" which takes the band in directions not hinted at in the blues tunes. Oh, sure it's full of slide guitar and harp over a groove, but it echoes the funk of Little Feat more than a bluesy workout. Not that that's a bad thing!

As on Samuel James' CD there are influences from a variety of blues sources, and like their labelmate, these fellows prove themselves to be masters of incorporating all that they've heard into their own sound. Dustin Arbuckle's voice is every bit as authentic as his harp playing, and his partner's guitar stylings.

The blues continues to grow with its roots deep in the past, but branching out to draw influences from rock, jazz, and pretty much everything that's happened since it came boogieing proudly out of the Delta. Here's four new ways to get the blues.