Album debute dated 2007 by Jake Lear, young blues guitarist coming from Vermont, far away from the blues roots, but presently operating from the industrial suburb of Binghamton, NY. Like so often the case with a first album by a noble unknown it’s taken some time for this ‘Love And Charm’ to travel up to here, but rave reviews and word of mouth caused the CD to emerge. Although this is his first, Jake’s been around and you can hear that. Happily he combines this with the drive and impetus of young wolves. His influences shimmer through, but he succeeded in draw a synthesis out of them. His guitar work refers to a lot of bluesguitar gods, from Buddy Guy (the man who opened up his blues views) over the grossly underestimated Mason Ruffner to Stevie Ray, revered for all the right and obvious reasons. He has listened a whole lot to Bob Dylan singing (whose ‘Lord Protect My Child’ he covers here), no doubt about that. You can hear that clearly in his ‘Early In The Morning’. However Jake has a slight but distinctive lowering and fading out of his voice at the end of practically every musical sentence, a remarkable stylistic peculiarity. Covering Elmore James with ‘Sure enough I Do’ and his version of ‘Dust My Broom’ are indication for his approach. It makes his style eclectic, at home in Chicago, Austin or the Mississippi Delta alike. His own material holds its own. Certainly in the up tempo songs Jake Lear scores, aided by his rough and tumbling little band. Even before this debute Jake shared the stage with or before the icons of op het podium met of the present day blues, as on the legendary Arkansas Blues & Heritage Festival in Helena. At this very moment Jake should be recording a successor album.