Joe Price started playing guitar as a nine year old in Waterloo, Iowa. Focusing on folk and country blues, he was eventually steered into electric urban blues after a chance meeting with Earl Hooker. He settled in Iowa City, often a stopping place for blues artists touring between Chicago, St. Louis, and Kansas City, playing first with the Rocket 88s and then with the legendary trio Mother Blues (with Patrick Hazell and Bo Ramsey). He retreated to Lansing, Iowa, where he met his future wife, Vicki Ewing, and the two of them began opening for artists like Honeyboy Edwards, Al Green, Louisiana Red, Iris DeMent, John Lee Hooker, and Homesick James). In 2002, Price was inducted into the Iowa Blues Hall of Fame and the Iowa Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007.

Over time, Price has developed a unique blend of traditional country blues that throws in rafter-shaking electric grooves as well as some traces of jazz mixed in. He has issued many recordings since the '80s, many of them homemade, but hopefully his latest effort, Rain or Shine (on his own label, Blues Acres Productions) will help him get the attention he merits. The disc features ten original songs, five of which are instrumentals, mostly featuring Price solo on vocals and guitar. His wife, Vicki, plays guitar on three tracks and sings on “Steel Guitar.”

Price’s plaintive vocals are fine, but the real star of the disc is his guitar. His slide work swoops in and out and back and forth with reckless abandon. It sounds as if fire is coming from the strings at times. Price’s songs are also impressive, highly original, but still with an eye toward traditional country blues. The opening cut, “Hornet’s Nest,” is a highlight, as is the mournful “Too Little Too Late,” and the swinging “Beer Tent Boogie Woogie.”

The instrumental tracks are all keepers. “Joe’s Guitar Stomp” is a rocker, the lovely “Nellie Bell” features Price’s National Steel, as does the Charlie Christian-influenced “LuLu.” The disc closes with the lively “Rock Slide,” featuring the Prices with their son, Keni, on drums and Al Naylor on trumpet.

Raw and original, Rain or Shine will please fans of slide guitar from all genres.