DON NIX & FRIENDS

"Going Down - The Sounds of Don Nix"

Evidence Records

Yes, Virginia - Don Nix really did write "Going Down," a now-famous standard originally recorded by Nix but made popular by blues legend Freddie King (not to mention the likes of John Lee Hooker, the somewhat more illusive J.J. Cale and - in these later more appreciative years of interpretive original rock - the ever popular, and very "English," Jeff Beck).

And let me tell you this - if you want to hear a song sung and played with all its originally imagined "sound" intact, you don't want to miss this new release by an otherwise overlooked but immensely worthy musician.

Perhaps because it's a "new" take on an old and well-played favorite, "Going Down" has never sounded so good. Nix's vocals are deep, dark and raw, with the backup band playing as hard as the song's lyrics dictate (Nix wrote the song after falling out of a first floor window, according to accompanying CD jacket - but that's just one of the 13 creation stories included here; you'll have to buy the disc if you want to know how each of the other 12 songs on the album came about).

That being said, the rest of the recording is certainly worth the time, money and effort to find! It's funky-country/bluesy-rock at its best, with several slower ballads thrown into the mix at just the right intervals. Unlike other recordings on the market (no matter what era they may have been produced), the song order is varied enough that even the most fickle of listeners haven't a chance to be bored. No need for a track scrambler here!

And I couldn't end without giving a strong shot of credit to guests Bonnie Bramlett (for her wonderfully throaty lead vocal contributions to "Same Old Blues" and "Like A Road Leading Home") and John Mayall (for his always superb harp playing, this time on "Going Back to luka" and "Everybody Wants to go to Heaven").

One can only hope that Nix (and all his friends, of course) will continue the fine work as evidenced - no pun intended - here.

- Karen Karsten

****1/2