Fat Possum Records, which has scared up unknown Mississippi blues talent for more than a decade, is in a rough period. “Everything in this business [is] in short supply: our budget, the number of good artists, the time they have left,” president Matthew Johnson writes in liner notes. That makes Charles Caldwell’s first and last CD especially tragic: The Coffeeville, Miss., industrial-fan builder and singer-guitarist died of cancer last September at age 60. Like R.L. Burnside, T-Model Ford and other Fat Possum “stars,” Caldwell fingerpicks in a harsh, droning style; he peaks on “Old Buck” with a brilliant one-note solo. And he sings on “I Got Something to Tell You” like he doesn’t care one bit who’s listening. Like all great blues it goes down well with depression and moonshine.
