Black Bayou is Robert Finley's seventh album and third consecutive project with producer Dan Auerbach. After earning critical accolades for 2021's intensely autobiographical Sharecropper's Son, they changed up the process for this set. It offers a wider, deeper approach than the electric folk-blues and gospel blues for which Finley is internationally known. On their previous collaborations, songwriting was completed before entering the studio, and the music was rehearsed by the band before recording. For Black Bayou, the writing process occurred during the recording. The end result is a muscular, driving, swamp-drenched collection that cuts across Delta blues, raw backwoods gospel, and rural funk. The cast at Auerbach's Nashville studio included Finley's daughter Christy Johnson, and his granddaughter LaQuindrelyn McMahon on backing vocals; drummers Patrick Carney (Black Keys) and Jeffrey Clemens (G. Love & Special Sauce); keyboardist Ray Jacildo; bassist Eric Deaton; and Auerbach and Kenny Brown on guitars. They are aided by percussionist Sam Bacco and harmonicist Tim Quine. The single-take philosophy creates immediacy, as if the listener is encountering the music in a club in real time. It owes a debt of influence to the recordings of Junior Kimbrough and R.L. Burnside. Opener "Livin' Out a Suitcase" references the mid-'60s soul-blues sound of B.B. King (think "The Thrill Is Gone") if it were being made in a juke joint. The minor-key guitar flow, hand drums and organic drums, harmonica, and whompy Wurlitzer lines offer a slow choogle as Finley relates the joys, perils, and illicit delights of life on the road. "Sneakin' Around" is fueled by horns, harmonica, and a Wurlitzer buoyed by a nasty bassline and muffled drum kit. The groove is hypnotic and dirty, and it's impossible not to move. "Miss Kitty" has a bumpin', snaky "I Put a Spell on You" flavor, albeit to with a quicker tempo and a doo wop backing chorus amid growling baritone sax, swampy drums, and lyrics delivered in a desperate falsetto. "Waste of Time" is gritty and funky; it's the uptown blues translated through NOLA R&B. "Gospel Blues" is a rangy, wrangling choogle with Finley testifying to his faith, foibles, and God's mercy above a greasy progression led by wailing harmonica, slide guitar, and muddy percussion. "What Goes Around (Comes Around)" is a rocking soul-blues tune that sounds like Silas Hogan, with the Stax rhythm section backed by Dorothy Love Coates' Gospel Harmonettes. Johnson and McMahon shine everywhere they appear but especially on the soul-drenched "Lucky Day," offering a doo wop chorus line behind Finley's vocal that eerily recalls Otis Redding. Closer "Alligator Bait" is a sinister juke-joint shuffle. It straddles the swamp blues of Tony Joe White and the barroom swagger of Kimbrough. Finley speaks in the first verse of being taken around Black Bayou by his grandfather and used to draw alligators to the shore to be shot. The lyrics are wryly humorous, the music gritty and steamy. There isn't a dull moment here. Get it. ~ Thom Jurek