Strictly Whatever

Personnel: Art Avalos (percussion).
Audio Mixer: John "Beetle" Bailey.
Recording information: 1 Ton Studios, Victoria; The Drive Shed Recording Studios, Toronto.
Photographer: Gary Taylor .
The musical partnership of singer/songwriter/guitarists Harry Manx and Kevin Breit is given a third outing on their duo album Strictly Whatever. The two play a variety of stringed instruments that includes, along with many different guitars, banjo, and mohan veena (Manx) and electric sitar, ukulele, and mandolin (Breit); Art Avalos provides percussion. Sometimes on these mostly self-written tunes, Manx and Breit create a ramshackle folk-rock sound somewhat reminiscent of Bob Dylan albums of the late '90s and early 2000s, notably on "Nothing I Can Do." That similarity is accentuated when Manx is singing in his gruff voice, though he can also suggest Mark Knopfler ("Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep"). The album is a low-key mixture of folk, country, and blues styles full of textured playing and interaction between the two guitarists, who have enough experience with each other to be comfortable trading licks throughout. ~ William Ruhlmann