With the likes of the Montreux Jazz Festival “the new master of the slide guitar” and Bootsy Collins, “The real thang” singing his praises the casual observer might be fooled into thinking that Jack Broadbent was some kind of guitar-slinging wunderkind, storming out of the bayou on a mission to destroy all with his blazing guitar work. In reality, I’m guessing it’s pretty hard to find a bayou in Lincolnshire and Jack’s obvious guitar prowess turns out to be a small part of the story.

Jack has been surrounded by music from an early age (his dad, and bassist on Moonshine Blue, is Mike Broadbent, a member of Bram Tchaikovsky, a band that enjoyed a brush with success back in the days when punk was mutating into new wave). Jack moved to London, honed his skills busking and the buzz he generated landed him a USA stadium tour opening for Lynyrd Skynyrd. Moonshine Blue is his fourth studio release.

Opening with the title track, Jack is in a languid mood as he reflects on his place in the world “Washed by the river and born again. What should I do about the man I turn into?” The production courtesy of Jack and Bruce Cameron is close-miked and intimate; you can hear every slide and buzz of Jack’s fingers on the strings. It’s a great way to open the record. ‘If’ adds a little more swagger to proceedings with the perfectly christened Peter Keys adding some nice rolling piano lines. The swagger remains as Jack counts in ‘The Other Side’ a jazzy slice of blues that brings to mind Van Morrison. ‘The Other Side’ is guaranteed to get your foot tapping and Jack throws in some deftly judged slide work before Miqui Gutierrez embarks on an extended sax break which is a thing of beauty.

The first single from the album ‘Everytime I Drown’ is delivered in a fragile, fractured falsetto “I’m wasting water every time I drown” and highlights Jack’s impressive vocal and playing skills. The seductive ‘This Town’ which follows is equally impressive and reinforces the feeling that Jack is possibly at his best as a folky troubadour. ‘The Lucky Ones’ ups the tempo with Jack’s playing at its most abrasive – delivered with the thickest tone on the record - to match the lyrical content. That languid swagger is back for ‘Tonight’ before ‘Wishing Well’ adds a bluesy, 70s influenced stomp to proceedings. I’m guessing this would be a highlight of his live set. The album comes full circle for the quite lovely ‘Too Late’ which reinforces Jack’s impressive triple-threat abilities as a singer, songwriter and guitarist.

‘Moonshine Blue’ is an impressive release by an artist finding his place in the world musically. If you’ve records by the likes of Van the Man or Chris Rea I’d check out Jack Broadbent at the earliest opportunity.

‘Moonshine Blue’ is available now on CD/digital with an LP release set for December 6th, 2019 via the Crows Feet label.