No Guff

No Guff is a pair of extraordinary musicians playing dyed-in-the-wool country blues. Among many of his originals, singer/guitarist John Rutherford and Canadian rockabilly legend Dan Tapanila pepper They’re Red Hot with inspired covers of blues standards. Rutherford remains a stalwart in the Alberta music scene, playing with Bill Downey and Ronnie Haywood, and while on drums with Haywood, he met he other half of No Guff. Tapanila’s effortless picking and sliding captures your ear, and he earned his chops with the Rhythm Pals, Chief Dan George and toured with Canadian country legend Wilf Carter. Songwriting takes backstage to the delta front porch grizzly vocals — hard to believe that Rutherford isn’t some 80-year-old Mississippian raised on catfish and hooch. Tapanila breaths life into ’50s Martin guitars and ’30s banjo/ukulele. They’re Red Hot is a compelling debut. Really, No Guff.