My Soul Alone

An impressive and fiery Texas blues guitarist, Chris Duarte's latest album, My Soul Alone, was recorded at Prairie Sun Studios in Cotati, California with Aaron Haggerty on drums and Steve Evans on bass; Mads Tolling adds violin on one track (the final cut, "Carelessness"). Earlier in his career, Duarte was often compared to fellow Texas guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Johnny Winter's name was tossed around, as well, but Duarte has been at this professional blues thing for a couple of decades now, and while he quite likely will never escape the Vaughan/Winter cul du sac, it's obvious at this point that he has his own varied spin on the whole modern Texas blues thing, spicing it up with, at times, a jazz feel, and he even pushes into light psychedelia now and then. This newest release doesn't break much new ground on that template, but it does spotlight Duarte's songwriting (he wrote each of the dozen tracks here), and his guitar work shines like it always does. Highlights include the upbeat and almost pop "Yes, It's You," the slow blues "A Dollar Down and Feeling Low," the smooth and flowing "Blue Jean Outlaw," and the set closer, the edgy and almost eerie "Carelessness."