Lucky Hand

Dawson is a virtuoso guitarist who has quietly put out albums of strong, bluesy playing via various projects over the years. The rich strings introducing ‘The Circuit Rider of Pigeon Forge’ states his aim of looking beyond solo guitar for this record, which the playful but complex weaving of the instruments further demonstrates. ‘Bentonia Blues’ is even better, with a slower guitar working beautifully with Charlie McCoy's ace harmonica lines. Songs like this, dovetailed with ‘Hale Road Revelation’, give a strong suggestion of travel and creates cinematic soundscapes which, with effective use of microphones, adds to an overall feeling of expanding space.

Elsewhere, subtle tunes like the solo ‘Bugscuffle’ and ‘Little Harpeth’ work well as palate cleansers after some of the more epic pieces; indeed, ‘Little Harpeth’ contains the strongest and most interesting melody of the lot, with some welcome light ukulele adding texture and almost slipping into an Eastern musical style. While, overall, Lucky Hand certainly pats itself on the back at points, with playing and recording this impeccably precise, that can be forgiven.