The latest from Robert "Top" Thomas is "The Town Crier" and it's on Wild Roots Records and the first on my best of 2013 list. This is a knock-out, kick-ass blues album by a wailing frontman with that perfect gruff blues voice and some shredding guitar solos, reminiscent of all those great old legends such as Muddy Waters, Hound Dog Taylor, Robert Johnson and like that. The first five seconds of the first song, "Mississippi Quickie" has that beat that your feet will dig right off according to one who knew, John Lee Hooker, who once noted that, "Back in 1932, I invented the boogie." No bad cuts and "Lazy Little Daisy" and "Bad Seed" (also a creepy movie) are good ones and "Daddy's Gone" is the best one from Rufus Thomas' talented son.