You Asked For It … Live!

Recorded last October at San Francisco’s Biscuits & Blues club, this 13-song disc features a great mix of material from Estrin’s 30-year association with Little Charlie Baty (e.g., “Don’t Do It,” “Clothes Line”) and some new songs—one of them the 7-minute “You Gonna Lie,” which is really a feature for Chris “Kid” Andersen (who absolutely shreds his guitar), bassist Lorenzo Farrell and drummer J. Hansen. Things get underway in a hurry with their uptempo rendition of “Handle With Care” (“I love to nibble but baby please don’t bite”)—a real tour de force, with Estrin’s chromatic harmonica leading into an organ solo by Farrell that’s capped off by another of Andersen’s driving solos. Love problems are a significant source of the blues and Estrin explores this theme on songs like “Never Trust a Woman” (co-written with Dave Alvin), “New Old Lady” and “My Next Ex-Wife.” This being a live recording we get to hear a fan shout out a request for “Dump That Chump” and the eager audience joining in on the refrain. The disc closes with an Estrin and bassist Farrell duet of Sonny Boy Williamson’s “Too Close Together.”

Rick Estrin and the Nightcats perform Saturday, Aug. 2, 9:30 p.m., at Feather Falls Casino Brewing Co.