Review: Emma Wilson ‘A Spoonful of Willie Dixon’

Review: Emma Wilson ‘A Spoonful of Willie Dixon’

By Hal Horowitz

Between the Yardbirds, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Jeff Beck, the original Fleetwood Mac, John Mayall, Savoy Brown and many more, there has never been any shortage of love from UK musicians for American blues. It’s even possible that without those young white kids picking up on and reproducing the music made in Mississippi, Memphis, Muscle Shoals and Chicago, those we now consider legends like Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy and others would not have received the accolades and recognition they acquired from the popularity of those acts.

And, in the guise of UK singer Emma Wilson, that love is still very much alive, even if most of the musicians that created the electric blues which jolted the once younger crop of British musicians are long gone.

Wilson’s previous album, 2023s ‘Memphis Calling,’ paid tribute to that classic American city with a set of soulful covers and new songs, captured at Sam Phillips Recording Studios with veteran Memphis music maven Scott Bomar producing. On it, she worked a tough yet supple ‘Dusty in Memphis’ groove but also notably took a swing at Willie Dixon’s “Hoochie Coochie Man” (which she swapped genders to title “Hoochie Coochie Woman”).

That spurred her attention towards a pure blues mode. And no one is more closely associated with the genre in its purest form than Dixon. With his catalog of timeless classics, performed by the world’s finest and most iconic blues musicians, Dixon’s compositions still form the backbone of the finest, most creative and soulful blues. His songs sound as fresh, snappy, vibrant and even mysterious (what exactly IS a wang dang doodle? Why would anyone “die about a spoonful”?) today as they did when Wolf, Waters and Koko Taylor were introducing them to the world back in the mid-late 60s.

Wilson tackles six Dixon opuses– four familiar classics and two obscurities–on this straightforward, unpretentious tribute that emerges from the heart. She stays on home turf for these live in studio sessions, recorded with a tight quartet of crack UK players in Crystal Ship Studios, Sheffield England, during January, 2025. Wilson co-produced with her drummer Mark Barrett.

Wilson and Barrett don’t significantly alter the arrangements from the well-known originals. The opening “Spoonful” trucks along with its iconic bass signature (Dixon was also a bass player and many of his melodies feature distinctive bottom lines), bringing a swampy combination of enigmatic, growing vocals and even a little funk as piano and guitar (UK six-stringer Nik Svarc is in top form throughout) handle the solos.

She tackles slow “I Can’t Quit You Baby,” made famous first by Otis Rush, later by Zeppelin, with admirable restraint, letting the accusatory lyrics of “You done made me mess up my happy home/Mistreat my only child” hang there before letting loose on the closing “Just got to put you down for a while.” Cool, dark and classy.

The group coheres around the shoulder-shaking bass of “Wang Dang Doodle” with its snappy rhythm. While it’s impossible to top Koko Taylor’s original, there’s a crackling vitality to this version that’s as pulsating as any other take. It’s impossible not to get caught up in that energy.

Most impressive is when Wilson excavates less obvious choices from Dixon’s deep catalog in “Good to the Last Drop” and “It Don’t Make Sense (You Can’t Make Peace).” The former is a co-write with singer Buster Benton who initially recorded it. Wilson rocks out, reinventing the tune as the sexy, suggestive track the lyrics imply. The latter is from late in Dixon’s career (circa 1984) and isn’t included on any of his collections. Wilson slows it down to a noir, jazzy, eight-minute torchy epic, squeezing each word like a tight hug. It closes this earnest and exquisitely performed collection on a dazzlingly shadowy, spectral note.

“Good To The Last Drop”