JOURNAL ON A SHELF

by Bill Sheffield
American Roots Records

Pick up “Journal on a Shelf” and have yourself a rip-roaring time. Call your goodtime friends and make a party out of it. This is a man who loves life, loves to make music and loves to get your feet tapping and a smile tugging. This acoustic roots blues project is full of sly charms and pretty picking.

Fourteen songs, all but three his own. He masterfully covers Tom Waits’ superb “An Invitation to the Blues,” and Odin’s “Comes Easy, Goes Easy” feels right at home on his guitar too. Sheffield’s own stuff is irreverent and funny, performed so effortlessly that its beauty could be easily overlooked. But make no mistake, his musicianship is strong, and he’s got great players on here with him, including two hot harp players, Simon Kenevan and Paul Linden.

Sheffield’s playful charm is all over this CD, most noticeable in his lyrics. “Holy Mother” had me blushing and “I Don’t Hate Nobody” tells it true too. In the midst of the good times he’s laying out some gutsy emotion, always underscored powerfully by that lyrical guitar. The title track closes the party out with courageous confession wrapped in sparkling picking, and you realize an hour later that you’re still smiling.