Guy Davis is a smart singer/arranger, having realized sometime back that the blues world encompassed more than electric Chicago bands and Delta-style soloists. On Skunkmello, he finds joy in moving from style to style, and even improvising by throwing several things into the mix to see what will happen. The collection kicks off with two covers, the first a rewritten version of "Natural Born Eastman" followed by a take on "Goin' Down Slow." The first moves at a brisk pace, fired by
Davis' gruff vocal and backed by a spry acoustic mix, while the latter delves deeply into electric barroom blues. There's fancy claw-hammer banjo on "Shaky Pudding," and banjo blues on the lazy "Po' Boy, Great Long Ways from Home." To the average blues fan, this eclectic approach adds variety and keeps the collection intriguing from beginning to the end. Purists, on the other hand, may question
Davis' loose approach, combining both new and traditional elements in his blues stew. It's easy to gain the impression that he wants it both ways: a sound and lyrics that evoke elements of the past (gruff vocals, songs about shaky pudding), but that is really no more than an approximation of it.
Davis deserves points for moving beyond the typical blues recording, but Skunkmello remains too dependent on a clean version of traditional blues. Only "Uncle Tom Is Dead [Milk 'n' Cookies Remix]" moves beyond tradition to emerge as something that one might call progressive blues. ~ Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr.