Some people still believe that rural blues is an old-fashioned boring music. But Cedar County Cobras duo prove that acoustic blues can sound actual, dynamic and totally enjoyable.

The duo if formed by Tom Spielbauer on vocals, guitars, slide, foot drum and composition and April Dirks on vocals, mandolin and double bass. Both musicians know how to capture the essence of old-time blues, Delta blues and the hypnotic sounds of Mississippi Hill Country blues, showing their knowledge of the styles they perform, they learned by listening to the masters. Tom’s career spans more than thirty years and, over the years, he has received numerous recognitions. Due to a macular degeneration, in 2005 Tom was declared practically blind. From that moment on, he started to follow the footsteps of those legendary blind blues musicians like Blind Willie McTell or Alan Wilson, concentrating all his efforts in the study of guitar and foot drum. On the other side, April started playing the mandolin in bluegrass groups, developing a particular own sound. Later on, she became interested in double bass, specializing herself in doghouse bass, which gives a very special sound to the duo. Nowadays they enjoy a great reputation among fans and are in high demand at many festivals.

The album gathers six own compositions and four excellent covers like “Poor Boy” coming from Gus Cannon, “Trouble No More” popularized by Muddy Waters, “Walkin’ Blues”, originally recorded by Son House and “Shake It Right” also originally recorded by Jessie Mae Hemphill. Both musicians manage to give to each song the strength, charisma and originality necessary to make this album sound completely refreshing but, at the same time, strong enough to attract all good fans of genuine high-quality blues.