Guy Davis had long wanted to celebrate the great duo and working with the talented Italian harmonica ace, Fabrizzio Poggio gave him the chance. They call this disc ‘a love letter signed by both of us’. The title song opens the album and a better tribute would be hard to imagine, a gorgeous original to open the love letter. The other songs have all been recorded by Sonny & Brownie but for this love letter they’ve worked up some most interesting new arrangements. “Louise, Louise” gets a very downhome treatment and they have a great time with the next two: “Hooray, Hooray These Women Are Killing Me” & “Shortnin’ Bread”. Davis gives “Baby Please Don’t Go Back To New Orleans” a beautiful intro on 12-string slide guitar before he starts the vocal and Poggio joins in on harmonica. Their version of “Take This Hammer” is also very well done. “Goin’ Down Slow” is a major highlight here among highlights. Davis is on 12-string once more. “Freight Train”,  another song that is plagued by too many perfunctory performances, gets a stirring vocal by Davis, no doubt because he stays close to the Elizabeth Cotten original. A not over played song, Josh White’s “Evil Hearted Me” has Davis on 12-string again and another spirited vocal. I think you’ll like their version of “Walk On”, the concert staple by Sonny & Brownie. The album concludes with a thrilling version of “Midnight Special”. Davis takes great pride in the fact that he got to play Sunny in Finian’s Rainbow, the Broadway musical that included that part for Sonny at its premiere in 1947. He also mentions that Brownie came to see his play, The Adventures of Fishy Waters: In Bed with The Blues and chatted with him backstage afterwards. Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee are a very important part of the blues tradition, their later quarrels notwithstanding. Albums like this will ensure we don’t forget how important they were. Guy Davis will be at The Orangeville Blues And Jazz Festival on Sunday, June 4. His web site is www.guydavis.com.