Holy shit, boys. There is no bigger cliche in rock’n’roll right now than aging glam-rockers suddenly discovering the blues, so this record is probably inevitable, but longtime fans expecting another roadhouse wallop like 2016’s Twisted Love are in for a whole different experience altogether. Of course, the Quireboys were throwing in bluesy touches since the beginning – there were boogie-woogie piano rolls and Chuck Berry riffs ways back on their 1990 debut A Bit Of What You Fancy – but White Trash Blues takes their affection for the stuff all the way.
A collection of blues standards originally recorded by Muddy Waters, Slim Harpo, Rufus Thomas etc, you’ve heard them all before, oftentimes by Ratt. Quireboys frontman Spike was born to wail the blues and he’s magnificent at it, but this stuff was pretty beat even when the Stones were mining it a lifetime ago. Essentially this is Honkin’ For Bobo for the cool kids. (Shrugs.)
