Several years ago, I was fortunate enough to hear a CD from Jason Ricci and New Blood called Feel Good Funk. This self-released disc was one of the highlights of 2003 for me. Ricci was an amazing talent with seemingly endless energy and creativity. He not only played the blues, but also incorporated jazz and funk into his music. I was already familiar with Ricci, having read Adam Gussow’s article about him in Blues Access magazine a couple of years earlier (now collected in Gussow’s book, Journeyman’s Road), but the article, while it revealed much about his background and early struggles with drug abuse, really couldn’t do justice to his incredible talent.

Ricci studied with former Johnny Winter sideman Pat Ramsey and honed his harp skills to the point where he won the Sonny Boy Blues Society Blues Contest at the age of 21. He eventually relocated to the hill country of Mississippi where he joined David Kimbrough’s (son of Junior) band and played with many in the Kimbrough and Burnside families for several years. After a couple of years with the Zydeco/blues band Big Al and the Heavyweights, Ricci went solo and formed New Blood. The band has recorded several entertaining discs since 2003, but their latest, and second for Eclecto Groove Records, Done With the Devil, is easily their best so far.

Last month, Blues Bytes’ Kyle Deibler took a pretty comprehensive look at the songs on this disc. I can add little to his comments, but I will say that Done With the Devil has a great mix of original tunes with sometimes highly personal lyrics that cover the bases from the blues to jazz to rock to funk, along with what can best be described as a unique set of cover tunes, ranging from Glenn Danzig (“I Turned Into A Martian”), to Willie Dixon (“As Long As I Have You”) to Mongo Santamaria (“Afro Blue”) to Sun Ra (“Enlightenment”). There’s not a bad tune in the bunch.

While Ricci’s harmonica playing continues to be phenomenal, he has really improved as vocalist and a songwriter. The band (Shawn Starski – guitars; Todd “Buck Weed” Edmonds – bass; Ed Michaels – drums) wrote or co-wrote songs for the disc and one listen will prove that they are simply one of the best bands of any genre out there right now. They also get a hand from guitarist Shawn Kellerman on one cut along with producer Phil Wolfe, who plays guitar, Hammond Organ, Fender Rhodes, and accordion on selected tracks.

Jason Ricci and New Blood continue to break new ground, taking the harmonica in directions that few ever imagined it would go. Done With the Devil has plenty to offer for blues fans willing to come along for the ride.