Open Bayou [CD]

New Orleans guitarist Eric Johanson has never been interested inchoosing between the raw emotional pull of the blues and the freedomto take it somewhere stranger, heavier, and entirely his own. On TheOpen Bayou, Johanson pushes that instinct further than ever. Thickguitar tones, hypnotic rhythms, and the volatile chemistry of a livepower trio collide across an album that feels rooted and untamed atonce-drawing from the blues without allowing tradition to define it'slimits. The album's first single, ""Shake the Fever,"" is built around amassive fuzz riff that hits like an asteroid, offering the firstglimpse into the record's physical, psychedelic world.