Veteran piano man David Vest recorded his last two albums here with the Willing Victims, Teddy Leonard, Gary Kendall and Mike Fitzpatrick. This time he decided to record on Vancouver Island with a West Coast band: Peter Dammann was the guitarist in the late Paul deLay’s Band when Vest was its pianist. Vest’s regular guitarist, Tom Bowler is here as well as is Billy Hicks on drums of Powder Blues fame and acclaimed upright bassist Ryan Tandy, whom Vest calls his ‘secret weapon’. That Vest can play piano has been proven by his successive Maple Blues Awards, that he’s an accomplished songwriter has been shown on those recent albums and that continues here: he has few peers when it comes to writing inventive lyrics in mostly traditional blues forms. The lead single, “Crocodile” is a case in point, with its barbs concerning his baby’s likes and dislikes. Check out the video on YouTube. “Renoviction Man” brings us right into the present with a major urban crisis and is an excellent song as well. The opener, “Some Old Lonesome Day” is not far behind, a timeless blues theme perfectly reformulated, with a truly inventive piano part. A little bit different is the jazzy workout for the engine room called “What’s The Matter Now” telling his partner she had better change her ways. There’s also some gospel piano here, a rocking party song and a tender ballad, David Vest can do it all. He’s launching a major tour to support this album but only Western Canada dates have been announced so far. His web site is www.davidvest.ca.