The forty-three year old Swiss added a fine piece of work to his impressing career with this album. But what could it be else when Dennis Walker was taken for the job as producer and Richard Cousins as bass player? The first one mentioned stood at the base of the careers of Robert Cray and Joe Louis Walker. Cousins were band member in The Robert Cray Band in the glory days, with hits as ‘Strong Persuader’ and ‘Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark’. Therefore you can ask yourself; “could it go wrong?” Fankhauser was born in a beautiful Swiss town called Thun. In 1993 he moved to the United States to be a professional musician. The result was a successful tour with Johnny Copeland until his death in 1997. He returned to Switzerland in 2000 and settled in Bern and is still operating from the Swiss capital at this moment. But he kept his American contacts warm, for instance, he was the first Swiss artist to perform at the prestigious Chicago Blues Festival in 2004. Watching From The Safe Side has become a great album, and breaths the spirit of Johnny Clyde Copeland all over; big band arranged shuffles interspersed with southern Soul, or just straight blues. Fankhauser wrote seven songs, while Dennis Walker did four. The only non-original ‘Love Song’ was written by; Johnny Copeland! I want to mention one song in particular on this album: ‘Thomas & Rodney’ is the story of a man from Zurich, Switzerland, who has a conversation in a bar with a man from Arkansas. The conversation brings out the difference in cultural backgrounds in a very unique way. No negative things on this cd? Well, Fankhauser is not a bad singer, but sings too nasal. That’s why the vocals are less convincing than the music and the arrangements. But the overall project together can be called very good.