Mudcat: Guitar, Vocal Eskil: Drums, Harmonies, Harmony Arrangements Snave: Guitar, Harmonies, Harmony Arrangements Joe Burton: Trombone, Horn Arrangements Shannon Kirk: Bass, Vocal on ‘Calamity Jane’, Harmonies Chad Mason: KeyboardsMico Bowles: Trumpet Daryl Dunn: SaxophoneRecorded and mixed live to analog tape at"The Living Room" Atlanta, GA July 21 and 22 by Rob Gal, assisted by Ed Rawls and Justin. Mastered by Jason Reichert. Daniel “Mudcat” Dudeck’s latest release, You Better Mind, finds him and his Atlanta-based band cooking up another soulful roots-music stew. With raspy vocal, rangy slide guitar, and sly charm, Dudeck creates a lively atmosphere that hovers over each song on the album. When Mama’s Happy and Calamity Jane briskly shuffle along, richly augmented by the horn section (former B.B. King horn player Lil’ Joe Burton on trombone, Daryl Dunn on saxophone, and Mico Bowles on trumpet), the latter featuring bassist, Shannon Kirk trading playful vocals with Dudeck. Gone Peaches shimmies smartly between rhythms, as does the Tex-Mex flavored San Antone. The lone cover, the traditional You Better Mind-all other songs written by Dudeck-also gets a rousing horn-accented treatment, with a hill country fife and drum-style breakdown provided by David “Snave” Evans and Eskil Wetterqvist, respectively. Spitting in the Eye of the Devil belies its title; rather than fiery and defiant, it’s actually laid-back and mournful, with solo turns from Dudeck, Burton, and Chad Mason on keys. Dudeck’s slide playing shimmers warmly on this record, adding to the moodiness of Falling and Commodicide, a lament on careless consumption in modern times that quotes Dust My Broom among references to child labor, fracking, and pollution. All Ways continues in this socially conscious vein, asking for awareness and cleansing from above. Yet even the message songs have beats you can dance to, rendering Mudcat’s You Better Mind an ultimately buoyant, goodtime affair. -Melanie Young, Living Blues Magazine, February 2014