Norton Buffalo & Roy Rogers
Roots of Our Nature
Blind Pig Records - 5077
Released 2002
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This disc, by these two stalwarts of the blues, contains 13 strong songs that were written by one or the other of these two, sometimes in conjunction with other members of their community of friends presenting it with a very intimate feel. It is a quiet and subtle disc with the musicianship almost taking a back seat to the lyrics, almost, but not quite. It has more of an acoustic quietness to it than was expected, and thus there isn’t (for the most part) the incendiary electric guitar solos that populate Slide Area (a previous disc). This is not said to down play what is here, as expected these two have a long-standing chemistry that absolutely sparkles, and because of the low-key approach there is room to enjoy the subtleties and intricacies of
their interplay that might be lost otherwise. The disc is basically just the two of them occasionally augmented by some acoustic bass, drums, and or whatever else they bring to the mix to let the music be the master of the disc. There are also some very fine vocals (in a roughhewn manner) for two musicians who are more normally lauded for their instrumental abilities, rather than their singing talents. The music is there and it absolutely sparkles for your ears.