Baton Rouge blues six-stringer Larry Gamer has fulfilled a mountain of promise with You Need To Live A Little, his first national release. While some fans of Garner’s earlier work may miss the Iow-fi vibe of his previous efforts for JSP Records, the increased production values on this new CD, along with some accomplished sidemen, has yielded some successful departures out of straight-blues territory. On the soaring ballad “Miracles Of time,” wind chimes give way to an orchestral-like arrangement that rivals the best urban soul offerings, and the moody urgings of the title track open with a minor-key arrangement that recalls the jazzy 1eanings of the Allman Brothers classic instrumental “In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed.” New Orleans piano virtuoso and Astral Project member David Torkanowsky handles piano duties and contributes an over-and-under Hammond B-3 soIo to “Four Cars Running,” a wry commentary on the insurance bills that accompany grown children still living at home. And in one of the albums highlights, Garner pays tribute to his mentor Silas Hogan (who passed away in April) with a cover of Hogan’s “Rats and Roaches In My Kitchen,” accompanied by the unmistakable slide guitar of Sonny Landreth, who ‘supplies some haunting fretboard moans before uncorking one of his jaw-dropping solos.

Garner’s no flashy guitarist-his solos are tastefully economic excursions- and the opening track “Another Bad Day” has an unforgettable hook that burns like B.B. King’s classic “The Thrill Is Gone.” Vocally, Garner’s smooth and wizened delivery echoes the class of Lowell Fulson. But for comparison’s sake, the shuffle “Don’t Run Talking” reveals Garner’s closest musical kin. Lyrically and musically, “Don’t Run Talking” is a ’90s version of Sonny Boy Williamson’s “Don’t Start Me To Talkin'”; while Garner doesn’t exhibit any of the crankiness of the famed harmonica player, his sly lyrics and Ironic turns (check out the role-reversal sinning on “Preacher Man”) are vintage Sonny Boy, fused with a modem sensibility. Though a few of the last cuts presented here (“Keep Playing The Blues” and “Nobody’s Special”) cross over from astute observation into moralizing, Larry Garner has staked his place as one of the preeminent contemporary blues poets.