Jerome Godboo

From Toronto, ON, Jerome Godboo is a singer and outstanding harp player. In a 20-plus-year career, he’s recorded and toured with the Phantoms, Jeff Healey, Jimmy Bowskill and Suzie McNeil, amongst others. A noted live performer, his past recordings have generally been uneven, frustrating for providing glimpses of Godboo’s potential. The happy news is that Humdinger is Godboo’s strongest recording yet. Clean production by Alec Fraser, also providing yeoman service as the bassist, captures a raw, intimate session of modern electric blues. Guitarist Shawn Kellerman rocks hard, not overplaying. Drummer Al Cross (ex-Big Sugar) pushes and pulls the beat, meshing nicely with Fraser’s steady bottom-end tug. Godboo’s harp playing has matured, with more grit and less flash. A 12-song set, there are 11 Godboo originals. A blues philosopher at heart, Godboo covers a lot of ground thematically in his writing. It includes the anguish of "Wounded Healer,” a boastful "Dogman” and the bordering on silly "Stinky Gardner.” This recording is certainly not predictable fare.