Craig Morrison and the Momentz

McGill University prof and ethnomusicologist Craig Morrison releases a love letter to his passion for blues and roots rock, looking mostly to '50s R&B for inspiration. Most of the songs are the kind of pieces you'd hear at the legion of summer blues and jazz fests around the country - solid, not very experimental and fairly straightforward. There is a lot of history on these songs, though, which fits in pretty square with Morrison's day job. Rich with covers of old artists like Harry Vann Walls, Big Joe Turner, Don Gibson, Charlie Feathers and Jackie Lee Cochrane, this comes with an important caveat: this is not rock and roll excitement. I kept looking over my shoulder, expecting applause from suburban parents with polo shirts and Bermuda shorts, smelling of mosquito repellent.