*** Robert Bradley's Blackwater Surprise

ROBERT BRADLEY'S BLACKWATER SURPRISE

(RCA)

Weird that a major label should release what's essentially 11 songs from a Detroit juke-joint band, just pure and gritty -- as the music should be heard. Bradley's a raw-throated, blind, 46-year-old rocking soul singer who plays keys and guitar. Members of the band Second Sight (nice guys whose national debut, Mood Ring, was a flop a few years back) became smitten with Bradley's talents and started backing him, and a hip underground bar-band chemistry ensued. Their music isn't about musical cleverness or hip lyrics; it's about playing from the heart and the gut. And about Bradley's real-life stories. He's traveled the county via Greyhound to make his living as (mostly) a solo street performer, and that hard-bitten experience comes through in his writing. If you like rock gritty and rich, this is the shit; if you're a blues fan, think of the Jelly Roll Kings a generation younger and transported to the ugly city.

-- Ted Drozdowski