This came out in 2003 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
The blues — especially the gnarly Delta blues played by most of the Fat Possum roster — is less concerned with technical skill than emotional purity. Which is a diplomatic way of saying T-Model Ford ain’t exactly B.B. King.
Of course, every now and then it’s nice to hear somebody deliver the whole package. And that latest somebody is Memphis bluesman Robert Belfour. Next to his septuagenarian labelmates, 63-year-old Belfour is still a young turk. And next to their ramshackle approaches, his ability to play and sing in tune and on beat makes him a relative virtuoso. But just because Belfour’s sound is smooth doesn’t mean his music isn’t emotionally gritty. Armed with just his trusty acoustic guitar and backed only by a shuffling drummer, Belfour mines a vein of deep dark hoodoo on his mesmerising sophomore CD Pushin My Luck. As his hands concoct hypnotic drones and circular chord patterns, his bourbon-soaked vocals confess his misery (“You’re breaking my heart, woman”) and swear vengeance (“Go ahead on, babe … One day I will catch you”). The scintillating result is guaranteed to please — no matter how you dig your blues.
