'Jake La Botz hit the road at fifteen. He found employment as a roofer, boilermaker, factory worker, and obituary writer. In the midst of this he learned how to play guitar. He played on the streets and in the juke joints of New Orleans, Chicago, and the Mississippi Delta, finding kinship with some of the last of the pre-war era bluesmen: David “Honeyboy” Edwards, “Homesick” James, and “Maxwell Street” Jimmy Davis.' from Jake La Botz's website.
Jake La Botz has got a face that seems quite out of time. Born in 1968, but he has the features instead of the Great American Depression, weatherworn, seasoned and ever so slightly world-weary. His records meanwhile, Sunnyside, the latest is just out, capture the spirit of the early Twentieth Century blues better than anyone bar Tom Waits and C.W.Stoneking. La Botz plays his hand straighter than either these two but has songs worthy of both.
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