C'mon Down To The Delta

Lil' Dave Thompson

JSP Records
PO Box 1584 London N3 3NW England

Reviewed by Robert Horn

In every part of the country there are regional artists who are on the verge of becoming national acts. We know some in the Northwest who have been in that catagory and some of those became national acts. There are artists in other regions who aren't household words but could become that. Among the areas where there are a lot of blues artists who are regional performers is the Mississippi Delta. One of the artists down there is Dave Thompson. He had his recording debut in 1996 and was nominated for the Handy Award for best new talent.

He has recorded again. He has played in his local area and worked a day job in the last few years but he still has the talent he had in 1996. The first song on this CD sounds so much like Robert Cray that I asked someone who they thought it was while it was on the CD player and that is who they mentioned. It is "Standin' in the Rain". Most of the other songs on here were also written by Dave or by Dave and his sax players Bruce and Robert Feiner. Dave mentions another Feiner on the back of the CD. He writes "Special thanks to Jennie Feiner for letting Lil' Dave record with her Fender Strat!" I want to thank her for that too, because it sounded good.

Dave's guitar playing has been influenced by Albert King, Stevie Ray, and Robert Cray. To be honest, if he came to town the same night as Robert Cray I'd go hear Dave instead. Partly because of the ticket price difference but I think I'd enjoy hearing Dave more.

He is a Mississippi Delta act that could be talked about nationally in the years to come.