Calgary-based blues artist Back Alley John (John Wilson), rolls out an excellent set of original and traditional numbers on Out on the Highway (1992). Playing harmonica, acoustic guitar, and electric slide guitar, he joins his backup musicians on fine songs like "Out on the Highway," "Yo-Yo String," "Pork Chop," and "No Place in Mind"--all Wilson compositions.

More a Feeling than a Living (1995) features more instrumentation, including mandolin, banjo, bassoon, accordion, keyboards and drums to accompany the electric and acoustic guitars. The album, a mix of Wilson originals and blues classics by Muddy Waters, Blind Boy Fuller, and Mississippi Fred McDowell, has a light touch. A good purchase for those who enjoy traditional, primarily acoustic, blues.

Out on the Highway
1992 Back Alley John (no catalogue number)

Out on the Highway; Yo-Yo String; 9/8 Nervous Man; Careless Love; Pork Chop; You Don't See the Blues like Me; Ham Bone Boiled; The Blues Is a Memory; Need My Baby; No Place in Mind; Pickin' the Blues; Cold Blue Moon 45:20

More a Feeling than a Living
1995 Back Alley John (CD-JW1002)

Mellow Down Easy; St. Louis Blues; No Sugar Baby Now; Come Back Home; As I Go Wondering Around; James Alley Blues; Hoy Hoy; Three Times a Day; Mole in the Ground; Nothing to do All Day; Who's Been Here?; Early Last Night; I'm a Man; Up Yer River; Walking My Blues Away; Heaven Sitting Down 48:23