And just when you thought the days of a geezer with long hair, a check shirt, and Fender Stratocaster was a thing of the past, or perhaps the stuff of a grainy black & white film transposed to video, along comes Larry Miller, loud, proud and dangerous!

'Outlaw Blues' is a good old fashioned slice of bone crunching, high octane rock-blues that takes no prisoners. But Larry does offer some light and shade courtesy of a wide variety of material that shifts from power trio rocking to Texas blues, via Rory Gallagher inspired fret board work some Johnny Winter style slide, tough Chicago Blues and plenty of subtle tone colouration.

From the classy art work to the fiery licks that leap from all ten tracks, Larry Miller impresses on many fronts and only narrowly misses having recorded a belter of an album because of his middling vocals and a tendency to ingratiate himself just a little too closely with the ghosts of Rory and SRV. No harm there I hear you cry, but in truth Larry is a fine player in his own right and a charismatic performer who curiously detaches himself from his humorous side when it comes to recording.

The upshot is that he's cut some barnstorming music but somehow hasn't quite got the killer songs to leave his own unique calling card. Thus while the title track is a tough boogie outing and both the Texas shuffle of 'Rebeka' and the slow blues 'Calling The Angels' all give Larry an opportunity to stretch out, there's just a little too much of everything. As a result the hard rocking 'Writing's on the Wall' sounds like an AC/DC outtake while the Johnny Winter meets Muddy Waters style Chicago blues of 'Storm Comin' could have come from Johnny Winter's late 80's output.

That said, the above influences place Larry in good company and when he does change things around a little he comes up with the interesting Latino tinged 'Professor Casanova'. Long time fans of Larry Miller will recognise a new self confidence, better production, str onger songs, and characteristic fiery guitar playing. New converts will undoubtedly be drawn to his hard rock sensibilities without quite being able to put a name to the player. So here's a gentle reminder, the name is Larry Miller and 'Outlaw Blues' might just kick start some long overdue recognition for this hard gigging, barn storming blues rocker.

****

Review by Pete Feenstra