Roomful of Blues’ latest continues a string of outstanding albums that stretches back nearly four decades. The New England-based band’s trademark sound is again evident here—lots of punchy horns and plenty of crisp guitar. Featuring Phil Pemberton on vocals, this one contains a few nods New Orleans’ way. Not only is the title a Dave Bartholomew-penned classic (originally recorded by our man Smiley Lewis), there are no fewer than three Gatemouth Brown covers here.

Agreeably, Hook, Line and Sinker kicks off with a driving shuffle— ”That’s a Pretty Good Love”—that contains some chicken-pickin’ barnyard guitar courtesy of Chris Vachon, who continues the legacy of tasteful guitarists produced by the group (Vachon also acts as producer here) The album remains in the fast lane with the Gatemouth cover “She Walks Right In,” and the get-on-down-with-it title track. The Don and Dewey catalog gets cherry picked on “Kill Me,” and, not unexpectedly, there’s lament to the bottle on Amos Milburn’s “Juice, Juice, Juice.”

If there’s a criticism here, it’s that there is no new material present, but that’s not the point. This is classic R&B material and it’s played with purpose and passion. If you’re into vintage R&B and racy covers like me, this one is definitely for us.