You Don't Know Your Mind

It isn't really surprising that as a songwriter David Egan has had cuts on albums by the likes of such blues and blues-rock singers as Joe Cocker, Solomon Burke, Percy Sledge, and Etta James, since he writes songs in what comes across as an authentic blues style, songs that sound like they could have been written in the 1940s and '50s instead of the '90s and '00s. As a performer on his second solo album, You Don't Know Your Mind, Egan provides another batch of songs that would be worthy covers for some of the same performers. (Actually, "Sing It" has already appeared as the title song of an album by Marcia Ball, Irma Thomas, and Tracy Nelson.) The only downside of his ability to write material so steeped in tradition is that they can sound a little too familiar, even on first hearing. The title song and the closing song, "Smile," are both barrelhouse piano numbers that could have come from the repertoire of Professor Longhair. "If It Is What It Is (It's Love)," a duet with Jennifer Niceley, might have been written and performed by Fats Waller in the '30s. "Money's Farm" and "Sing It" are both set to New Orleans second-line rhythms and might as well be by Dr. John or the Neville Brothers. And while one is tempted to sing along to the feisty, allegorical "Proud Dog," it wouldn't be hard to drift over to such dangerously similar tunes as Hank Williams' "My Bucket's Got a Hole in It" and Joe South's "Games People Play." Egan's renditions of his songs are a cut above merely being good publishing demos. He is also steeped in the Louisiana style as a performer, playing excellent keyboards (for which he is not credited on the album, though that must be him) and singing in a thin but soulful tenor. Still, more distinctive stylists in the blues and soul vein will want to pick up this disc for possible cover material.