Pierre Lacocque’s Mississippi Heat has a unique approach to presenting blues music.. In the true spirit of the Blues, the leader gathers a collection of the finest male and female musicians, singers, to deliver the messages contained in his songs and creating a musical energy rich with these blended talents! The result is a sophisticated, original performance, a strong cohesion, and remarkable sounds. With his precise and relevant touch, Lacocque’s amplified harmonica enlivens and elevates the interpretations with his unique flavour and spices. “The blues is like salt, you put it everywhere” (Roosevelt Sykes). Pierre Lacocque, the excellent harmonicist, is also a musician-creator, a gatherer, a leader… a band guy!…

Don’t Look Back is Mississippi Heat’s 14th album. Straight From The Heart, the first, was released in 1992. Thirty-three years of discography—that’s what you call experience! Mississippi Heat invents and charts its path built on talent, passion, and resilience… This new release features 14 tracks, including one instrumental. For the first time, Pierre Lacocque wrote and composed all the pieces in this consistent offering. His favorite subjects are inspired by his life experiences, his joys, interests, and concerns. Among other things, it talks about love, the devastation of drugs and alcohol, the pain of losing his father, who died at the age of 94 from COVID complications… In fact, all the artist’s themes illustrate the “facts of life” with this positive and liberating vision, which is inherent to the Blues. Before talking about the album content itself, I think it is useful to mention that this opus was co-produced by Lacoque alongside Michael Freeman, described as a “Legendary Producer” and also a Grammy winner. Another point to highlight is the participation of 21 musicians, including four female vocalists and one male vocalist, on this album, each invested in their contributing role for a harmonious and unified result. Once again, Lacocque exemplarily puts into practice his motto, “My motto is to build on the talents that surround me.” The result is that each artist contributes to the delivery and expression of the message, as well as to the particular atmosphere of each of the songs.

The album opens with You Ain’t The Only One, a driving shuffle interpreted by the energetic Sheryl Youngblood, the main vocalist who performs on nine tracks in total. The band is solid, Giles Corey’s lead guitar is sharp and dynamic, and Lacocque’s harmonica is very present. The tone is set!… The expressive Danielle Nicole follows with Third Wheel, a slightly slower shuffle; Billy Flynn is on guitar, Johnny Iguana on piano, and Lacocque heats up the harmonica! Thereafter, Inetta Visor & Daneisha Hamilton are not left behind when they interpret Quarter To Three. After three shuffles, Youngblood skillfully interprets Stepped Out Of Line, a slow, elegant blues, enhanced by a choir of three female vocalists. The entire track, interpreted impeccably, exhales soul and refinement! One can appreciate the solid performance of John Kattke on the organ. Moonshine Man is a lively harmonica duet with Omar Coleman on acoustic and Lacocque on electric. This driving challenge gives way to a knowing, well-supported dialogue between the two harmonicas! Shivering Blues, a slow blues, is, in my opinion, the album’s pièce de résistance!… It’s kind of a fresh look at St. Louis Jimmy Oden/Howlin Wolf’s classic “Going Down Slow”. It is written by a son intimately connected to the painful passing of his father, André Lacocque, due to COVID, to whom this anthology moment is dedicated… It is interpreted with confidence, intensity, heart, and guts by Danielle Nicole, a truly exceptional singer! The entire band is wonderful in this deep blues, a blues of urgency… when life hangs by a single thread!…

From start to finish, there is no downtime on this album. It is dedicated to Carl Weathersby, guitarist and Soul Man who was a faithful friend of Pierre’s! Overall, this 14th milestone of 14 tracks of blues & associated music is a rapid-fire offering that modulates acutely and navigates competently through the turbulent waters and deep emotions of the blues! Highly recommended! (Pierre Jobin)