Darrell Nulisch has been singing and playing harmonica for more than a couple of decades and has apprenticed with Anson Funderburgh, Ronnie Earl and James Cotton among others. On his latest disc he mixes blues obscurities with some clever originals. Otis Rush’s “Mean Old World” is familiar, but after that we get lesser-known fare from the song books of Lee Shot Williams, B. B. King, Ann Peebles and Otis Redding. Nulisch gives respectful readings of these but he’s more convincing on originals like “Where My Baby Is” and especially “Get Away Place.”

There’s a big horn section on most tracks but they don’t get in the way of the guitar or Nulisch’s economic harmonica. There’s some pretty aggressive music found on I Like It That Way which is certainly what one wants to hear on a contemporary blues CD.