Home Read Classic Album Review: Kelly Joe Phelps | Tap The Red Cane Whirlwind

Classic Album Review: Kelly Joe Phelps | Tap The Red Cane Whirlwind

This came out in 2005 — or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):

 


Folk-blues singer-guitarist Kelly Joe Phelps is one of those guys who shines in any setting.

Surround him with a band and he makes subtle, entrancing studio albums like Slingshot Professionals and Sky Like A Broken Clock. Send him out on the road with just an acoustic guitar and he makes a subtle, entrancing live album like Tap The Red Cane Whirlwind. Underscoring his young Tom Waits rasp with some near-virtuosic fingerpicking, Phelps lazily weaves a soothing spell on a nine-song, 68-minute set of highlights from those last two studio discs, along with touchstones like a haunting take on Skip JamesHard Time Killin’ Floor Blues. Singularly impressive.