All the guest stars in the world (
Joe Louis Walker,
Dr. John,
Lucky Peterson,
Larry McCray) can't mask the simple fact that
Cotton's voice was thoroughly shot when he made this disc (apparently the Grammy nominating committee gratuitously overlooked this). The instrumentals, obviously, aren't affected by this malady; they're typically rousing. But whenever
Cotton opens his mouth, he sounds as though he's been gargling Drano. ~ Bill Dahl