Label: Club 88 Records (distributed by The Orchard)

When you’ve got friends like Mitch Woods, why not invite a few of them over and see (or in this case, hear) what happens. Lucky for us, what happened was Friends Along the Way, a double disc of true blues joy. It’s a Deluxe edition re-release of a 2017 album., but with five previously unreleased tracks.

As Mr. Woods states, “What you hear on these tracks is a simple duo or trio of musicians each expressing their innermost feelings and emotions through their instrument….the voice, piano, guitar, harmonica, tambourine…anything that can communicate the feelings, the rhythms of life to you our audience. Without which there is also no music.”

This release is a gift to lovers of collaborative music at its best, that’s plain. And what a gift it is — featuring Van Morrison, Taj Mahal, Elvin Bishop, Charlie Musselwhite, Ruthie Foster, Joe Louis Walker, Maria Muldaur, Cyril Neville, Marcia Ball, John Hammond, Kenny Neal, James Cotton, John Lee Hooker and more. Each guest artist is fully framed in the perfect atmosphere by Mitch Woods and his stellar band, the Rocket 88s. If this is the culmination of Mitch Woods’ artistic life, then this guy knows how to live. What an assemblage of quality material and superior artists.

When’s the last time you heard a definitive vocal performance from Van Morrison backed on guitar by Taj Mahal an Mitch Woods on piano? Well, how about now. It’s the first single off the album, and it is just a hint of the treasure that lies ahead:

What remains, after the songs on this collection are played, is an echo in the air. A distant blue note, going, going, gone. But with it wafts history. For in these songs, in these performances, indeed, in these friendships, lies the true inspiration for an art form called the blues. Clearly the blues is a living thing, and with Mitch Woods and friends it’s in good hands.