EDITORIAL REVIEWS .COM Harmonica ace Charlie Musselwhite falls between the more obvious generations of blues players younger than its elder statesmen but considerably senior to young hot-shots like Jonny Lang and Kenny Wayne Shepherd. How then can he find a fresh hook to his music without resorting to attention-grabbing gimmicks? Except for two songs featuring producer/guitarist Cesar Rosas of Los Lobos Charlie Musselwhite s 1997 album Rough News doesn t have any famous guests but it stands out from the harmonica whiz s long and deep discography nonetheless. Musselwhite has pared down his sound so radically that every instrument has become a rhythm instrument. When these lean groove-based arrangements are applied to tunes as simple and catchy as Both Sides of Fence I Sat & Cried and Natural Born Lover the results jump at the listener with the bare-basics excitement of early rock & roll. Musselwhite displays his elegant command of the mouth harp on two instrumental standards Sleepwalk and Harlem Nocturne but the highlights are the songs where the simplicity of the material and the masterfulness of the musicians bring the best out in each other. --Geoffrey Himes