Will Wilde: Blues is Still Alive Review

Will Wilde’s new album Blues is Still Alive hits shelves on February 28th, 2025 from Vizz Tone Records. The big single off the album is the title track “Blues is Still Alive,” which was released on November 8th, 2024. Will Wilde is of course a renowned harmonica player of excellent skill. On this record he’s backed up by Lindsey Bonnick, Chloe Josephine, and his sister Dani Wilde for backing vocals, as well as Steve Rushton on drums, Greg Coulson on keys, Bobby Harrison on guitar, and Russell Carr on bass. The whole band is killing it on every track of  this record. This all aside from the fact that Walter Trout himself contributes some lead guitar to the title track.

The album is traditional blues rock done right. It feels inspired in equal parts by the likes of Taj Mahal, Robert Johnson, John Lee Hooker, and Gary Moore. For what it’s worth, Wilde himself has said that his goal with the album was to deliver “straight up blues material with the same intensity you find on a Walter Trout or Gary Moore album.”  And for the most part, the record delivers exactly that in high quality. 

The opening track of the album is the title track, coming in at just under 6 minutes. The best song on the record, it’s groovy, bold, and the band is on fire. The subject matter is sort of a “Sultans of Swing” style celebration of working Blues musicians and it’s every bit as good as you’d expect a Walter Trout feature to be. It’s followed up with “Wild Man” and “Don’t Play With Fire” a couple of roughly 3 minute songs about partying and the intensity of love and the fear of getting hurt which, while good, don’t quite measure up to the heights of the really incredible tracks on the album.

The middle of the album slows things down a bit with “Gypsy Woman,” an absolute gem of a song; slow, a little country, and seductive. Another slower track in the middle of the record is “Stole My Love,” in my opinion a perfect song with an absolutely transcendent harmonica call and response bit at its crescendo. The album is rounded out with “Don’t Trust Me” and “Learn How to Love,” neither of which are bad songs, but neither of which really soar in the way that a couple other songs on the record do. 

A real point of the record’s charm is in Wilde’s decision to open and close the record with meditations on working from the bottom to make music. “Blues is Still Alive” celebrates the spirit and grit of the working artist, whereas “Broken Bream Blues” focuses more on the tedium of everyday life being crushing for an artist that really just wants to get their music made. Where “Blues is Still Alive” is jovial, rocking, and upbeat, “Broken Bream Blues” is heartbroken, a savory, slow crooner about the harder side of making it as a Blues musician. 

To sum it up, this record is awesome, just very, very good traditional blues rock stuff really driven with intense and moving harmonica and supported by a backing band that is hard to rival. A worthy addition to Wilde’s discography, and well worth a listen for any Blues fan.

The Review: 8.5/10

Can’t Miss Tracks

– Blues is Still Alive
– Stole My Lov
– Broken Dreams Blues

The Big Hit

– Blues is Still Alive