I was a big fan of The Boneshakers back in the 1990s when Sweet Pea Atkinson handled the vocals, along with current guitarist and bandleader Randy Jacob. I saw this entourage several times, I had their albums, and I proudly wore their t-shirt when I'd  venture out to my favorite blues club (and I still have that t-shirt 30 years later!).

Sweet Pea left us five years ago. When I heard that Jacobs had re-formed The Boneshakers with new singer Jenny Langer, I was skeptical that it could be the same without the smooth, soulful voice of Sweet Pea. Their 2022 album, One Foot In The Groove, is very good, but I was still missing the original sound.

I'm over that now and have moved on. A few months ago I heard the single from their Live To Be This album, a cover of the Bobby Womack soul/R&B classic "Salty." I've loved every version of this song, but I was absolutely floored when I heard Langer and blues vet Bobby Rush harmonizing on their rendition.

I immediately declared "Salty" to be the frontrunner for Song of the Year, and began wondering if the full album could live up to my expectations. When the CD finally arrived in my mailbox, I hurried to get it into my disk drive to hear the other 14 cuts.

Fifteen songs? I worried that they had to fill out the album with a lot of lesser tunes, but have no fear. Every song on Live To Be This is outstanding, with the band's usual mix of blues and soul, perhaps leaning just a touch closer to the blues side than on previous albums. But it doesn't matter because it's all great.

Langer excels on the very first song, a mid-tempo soul/blues, "I'll Kick A Brick (For My Man)," with her vocals exuding plenty of sass. Her former band mate, Ron Holloway, shines on sax, and we hear a fine piano solo from Rodney Lee followed by Jacobs doing it on guitar. An excellent start.

Let's move ahead to the major highlights, with the aforementioned "Salty" given more of a blues sound than earlier versions with some nasty guitar from Jacobs. Having Rush aboard on vocals takes it to another level; he and Langer sound like they were born to sing together. This is an absolutely phenomenal song!

Much different than the rest of the material but also among the strongest cuts are two versions of the same Jacobs original, "Dobro Jones." It's raw country blues with Jacobs killing it with his slide on the dobro. The two cuts are differentiated in the titles, with one identified as the Delta Mix and the other as the Low Country mix. The former has a bit more of a heavy sound with a slightly slower tempo. Jacobs and Langer exchange vocal lines, with the man in this conversation saying he's playing the dobro all night because she's not coming home, while she counters with similar accusations about what he's been doing when he's away from home. I'd put this one in the running for Song of the Year, just in a different category from "Salty."

Let's get back to the other songs on Live To Be This.

The funky blues "They Say I'm Different" has more aggressive vocals from Langer, as she knows she's been referred to as a piece of sugar cane, and goes on to explain that she sings the blues because she learned from her father and grandfather, the latter who was rockin' his moonshine to B.B. King and Jimmy Reed. A strong guitar solo from Jacobs gives this song a heavy-duty blues infusion.

Langer shouts out her own James Brown-style feral scream on the soul tune, "How Do You Spell Love,"  then slows it down for an eerie primal blues, "I Need Somebody," with echo in her vocals punctuated by harmonica breaks from guest star Charlie Musselwhite.

Musselwhite is back on the up-tempo blues shuffle, "Evil No More." Langer shouts out the vocals on this one, telling that man to come home because she's going to stop being evil.

Jacobs steps up to the mic for the slow hipster jazz tune, "I Am The Cool." with David Garza handling the requisite late night sax fills. "Here I Am" is a funky, anthemic blues that Langer uses to announce her presence and boldly stating that she's what they should look like.

The up-tempo walkin' blues, "Don't Deny Me," brings in some familiar names, with Coco Montoya handling the lead guitar parts and Jimmy Carpenter blowing his sax. Also, good keyboard work from John "Papa" Gros. The horn section of Joe Sublett (sax) and Mark Pender (trumpet) are the stars of the funky blues/soul, "Took A Trip," with Jacobs throwing down a very fine blues guitar solo.

This is already a full slate of music at this point, but we aren't done yet!

"Tears Of The World" is a topical, funky soul ballad, with Langer optimistically telling us that someday we won't have to cry anymore. The Sublett/Pender horns are solid here, and as expected there's a wonderful Jacobs guitar solo.

Langer gets assertive again with the lyrics on the mid-tempo blues, "Ain't Good Enough For Me," as she tells that man she knows he's been lying and doing forbidden stuff, such as sleeping in beds that aren't his own.

Wrapping up the album is a slow, quiet soul tune, "The Cake and the Candle," backed by very subtle guitar accompaniment from Jacobs. It's her gentle message that she wants it all in the relationship. It's a nice contrast to the rest of the album and an effective closer.

Live To Be This is my choice for blues album of the year. I realize we are just halfway through the year, but I can't imagine any other release is going to top this one. It's that good. and I've run out of adjectives for it. Pick it up or download it today ... you won't be sorry.

--- Bill Mitchell