Turns out that we’re not the only ones who believe that our partner artist Alabama Slim’s January album, “The Parlor,” is a masterful take on the blues. Here is a roundup of all the critical praise the album has received, and you’ll find links to stream and to buy the album at the bottom.

“Authentic practitioners of the blues are hard to find these days. Most have passed on or are retired, and while there is some young blues talent assuming the mantle out there, it’s impossible to faithfully re-create the sounds of the Delta, Texas and Chicago blues giants whose music influenced a generation of Brits, who, in turn, introduced the blues to a new generation of Americans. Alabama Slim, discovered late in his life, is one of the few remaining bluesmen whose sound is genuine, rooted in the work.” —AMERICAN SONGWRITER

 “There is something eerily permanent about his voice and his whole approach to how to handle a song. It gives hope that maybe there are others in the small Southern towns of this huge country, those that came by their blues the hard way. They lived it.” —AMERICANA HIGHWAYS

 “Whether performing on the porch or in the parlor, Alabama Slim is a true original.” —BLACK GROOVES

 “There’s nothing too fancy about this album, but it doesn’t need anything fancy. This is just a great blues album with songs that is as great for sitting on a porch with a cold beverage by your feet as it is for getting your boogie on in your living room.” —GLIDE

 “Now that ‘The Parlor,’ his third release, was issued late last month, the towering musician is digging even deeper into the traditional music that influenced him as a child – as he continues to forge his own signature sound.” —INSITE ATLANTA

 “Amazingly, ‘The Parlor’ was laid down in one take for a straight to tape feel, but when you’ve got members of Drive-By Truckers and Squirrel Nut Zippers in your band, that certainly helps as Slim’s grit and spontaneity is captured and highlighted superbly in this classic blues effort.” —TAKE EFFECT

 “In summary, Alabama Slim’s story is a vivid lesson of perseverance, resolutely sticking with the moaning and groaning of the Delta Blues that he heard in the 1940s on his grandparents’ farm, in the ‘Yellowhammer State.’ The album is a delightful collection, consisting mostly of refreshing, modern originals that avoid being cliched, with just a couple of re-worked old blues classics that all fit superbly on the plate served up in ‘The Parlor.'”  —THE ROCKING MAGPIE

 “This all-star band is handy at working up potent grooves with a touch of the swamp, but the record’s strongest quality is Slim right up front, his delivery ranging from the gnarled boogie motions of John Lee Hooker to the sheer vastness of Willie Dixon (both vocally and compositionally).” —THE VINYL DISTRICT

 “’The Parlor’ is certainly a recording to be embraced. It captures Alabama Slim in a non-filtered environment, allowing the music to be heard the way it was meant to be. Records like this just aren’t made this way anymore.” —PHILLY CHEEZE BLUES

 “The spirit of John Lee Hooker haunts these 10 rhythmically magnetic tracks, recorded in New Orleans in 2019. Backed by a lean groove machine that includes guitarist cousin Little Freddie King and keyboardist Jimbo Mathus, Slim moans ‘All Night Long’ over his and King’s plangent guitars, skewers the Oval Office’s recently evicted occupant with a sly rap during ‘Forty Jive’ and keeps his blues taut and real.” —PASADENA WEEKLY

To stream |  To buy CD or LP