It’s great to see Ernie Vincent busy these days, and when his young band finds its groove, it could be a powerhouse. On Bayou Road Blues, the only member of the live band to join him on this album of acoustic blues is singer Andrew Duhon, who plays harmonica here. Unfortunately, the album often sounds like a collection of tracks that test-drive different lyrics over the same instrumental bed. I could be generous and think of this as a post-modern statement—that he’s demonstrating how the blues is a form that can contain any thought—but the lyrics rarely get beyond a mix-and-match of phrases from other blues songs, dotted with local references. I could be generous and think of that as post-modern as well—an album of blues songs that reveals the form as a series of gestures and tropes—but “Mardi Gras Chief” departs from the established tempo, rhythm and key. The song also reveals what the album misses—Vincent’s electric guitar. His overdubbed R&B licks that respond to his vocal call invoke history and tradition as much of the album does, but they also ripple with energy and personality. They’re the part that says Vincent isn’t as generic as Bayou Road Blues. It’s the Vincent that plays live, and the one I’d like to hear on record.