First Blood harks back to the glory days of the '60s blues-rock boom - Mike Henderson and the Bluebloods' gritty sound is far from original, but years on the Nashville bar band circuit have honed their skills to a razor-sharp point, and the record is refreshingly raw and direct, distinguished by rock-solid musicianship.

Mike Henderson offers up a whole album's worth of blues on "First Blood." Joining the singer-guitarist are former Stevie Ray Vaughan keyboardist Reese Wynans and two Nashville session pros, drummer John Gardner and bassist Glen Worf. The arrangements are neither too polite nor too self-indulgent but instead relight the original flame inside old blues standards by J.B. Hutto, Hound Dog Taylor, and Otis Spann. This album should shatter every stereotype about Nashville musicians.