GA-20 with Charlie Musselwhite

Blues Now

New West Records

GA-20 is an American blues band from Boston, Massachusetts. The band is named after the guitar amplifier manufactured by Gibson from 1950 to 1961. They primarily play Chicago blues.

Beginning in 2018, GA-20 were nominated for a Boston Music Award for “Blues Artist of the Year” eight years in a row. GA-20 was nominated for their first Blues Music Award in 2022 for “Best Emerging Artist.” In 2023, they were nominated again for “Blues Band of the Year,” and their “Live In Loveland” album was also nominated for a Blues Blast Award. In 2024, they won “Blues Act of the Year” at the New England Music Awards.

Matthew Stubbs formed GA-20 in early 2018 during a hiatus from playing guitar with Charlie Musselwhite, due to Musselwhite touring with Ben Harper. This new album was produced by Stubbs and recorded by Brian Charles at Rare Signals in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The current lineup includes Stubbs on guitar and baritone guitar; Cody Nilsen on guitar and lap steel guitar; bassist Marty Ballou on half the tracks; and Josh Kiggans on drums.

On “Blues Now,” Musselwhite on harmonica and vocals becomes the bandleader. The band opens with “Crazy Love,” written by Willie Dixon and first recorded by Buddy Guy in 1967. Stubbs plays some great guitar, as Musselwhite sings “If you love me baby, this is what you got to do, you got to let the world know that you love me too. If I’m crazy, you be crazy too. We gonna have a crazy time, just playing crazy music for you. We gonna have a crazy time, we gonna jump for joy, you’ll be my crazy girl and I’ll be your crazy boy. If I’m crazy, you be crazy too… we’re gonna have a crazy time just playing crazy music for you,” as Musselwhite solos.

Although the original was credited to Elmore James, “I Can’t Hold Out,” a.k.a. “Talk To Me Baby,” was actually written by Willie Dixon and recorded by James in 1960, as Musselwhite chimes “Talked to my baby on the telephone, she said stop what you’re doing and come on home, I can’t hold on, I can’t hold on, I get a real good feeling talking to you on the telephone. She said daddy, don’t you worry, don’t you cry, you know I love you baby, said you’re my hearts desire, I can’t hold on, I can’t hold on, I got a real good feeling talking to you on the telephone…talk to me baby, you know what I want to hear.”

“I’ll Change My Style,” written by William Parker and Manuela Villa, was recorded by Jimmy Reed in 1962, as Musselwhite chants “I’ll change my style, oh baby, like a child. If the beating of my heartbeat is too slow for you, tell me, oh, oh, tell me, and I’ll change that too. I’ll change my walk, even change the way I talk, and if there’s something ’bout my kisses, that don’t please you tell me, oh, tell me and I’ll change that too. I’ll change my way, each night and every day, and if there’s something ’bout my lovin’, that don’t please you. I’ll change that too…tell me, oh, tell me and I’ll change that too.”

On “Big Stars Falling,” a.k.a. “Big Stars Falling Blues,” written and first recorded by Tampa Red in 1953, Musselwhite moans “Well now the big stars are falling, it can’t be very long before day, well now the big stars are falling, it can’t be very long before day, when they begin to break, it may drive your blues away. Now the saddest hour is just between the daylight and dawn, when the one that you love, have said goodbye and gone.”

“Universal Rock” is an instrumental, first written and recorded by guitarist Earl Hooker in 1960. It was later re-recorded by Junior Wells in 1981. It opens with a long solo from Musselwhite as Nilsen plays guitar.

“The Blues Never Die” was written and recorded by pianist Otis Spann of the Muddy Waters Band in 1964, as Musselwhite wails “Everybody’s wondering where did the blues come from? I said everybody’s wondering where did the blues come from? Way back in the low land, right down from my country farm. When you’re in trouble, blues is your best friend, when you’re in trouble blues is your best friend. Blues don’t ask you where you’re going and the blues don’t care where you’ve been…we just can’t let the blues die, blues don’t mean us no harm.”

“Strange Land” was written and first recorded by Musselwhite in 2006, as he howls “Nobody knows me, nobody knows me, nobody know who I am, well, I’m just a stranger in a strange land, in a strange land, I got lost trying to find my way, I got lost, I got lost trying to find my way…don’t know where I’m heading, babe, I wish you’re where I’ve been.”

On “Stroll Out West,” written and recorded by Eddie Taylor in 1972, Musselwhite cries out “I lay down, down last night and tried to take my rest, well, now sure as shuck, when it’s morn’ I got to take a stroll down the highway…I know it ain’t none of your business, hey but you know, I know it ain’t right. Keep with your kin man, all day long, baby play, sick of your husband every night, sick of your husband every night. I told my woman, way too long, if you don’t quit your cheatin’, I have to put you down. Oh Lord, a husbandin’, Oh Lord, a husbandin’…I went down to the church house and they called on me to pray, I kneeled down on my knees, didn’t know what to say…take a stroll down the highway.”

“Short Dress Woman,” written by John T. Brown, was recorded by Muddy Waters in 1964, as Musselwhite shouts “My baby wears her dress so short, way up above her knees…says she’s gonna show her big fine legs to just anybody she please…I give a party last week, you came a taken’ the prize, wearing that dress so short woman, way up above your thighs…she’s gonna show her big fine legs to just anybody she please.”

On the closer, “Cristo Redentor,” composed by Duke Pearson in 1963 and released the following year on Donald Byrd’s album “A New Perspective,” it is a jazz- and gospel-styled instrumental featuring Musselwhite’s beautiful harmonica.

Between December 2018 and December 2025, GA-20 recorded eighteen albums and three EPs, most of them on Karma Chief Records. Now with Charlie Musselwhite added on “Blues Now,” we have one for the ages. It don’t get any better than this.

Richard Ludmerer

 

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