Christopher Wyze & The Tellers “Stuck In The Mud (Live)”

There’s something immensely striking about sharing a genuine love for the blues in such a symbolic spot. “It’s hard to find a bluesier place to play our music, make an album, and shoot film,” says Wyze. Recorded at the Juke Joint Chapel—an intimate venue that was once a cotton gin, nestled within the Shack Up Inn—Live in Clarksdale builds on the momentum of the studio album, assembling a new group of accomplished musicians to bring the album to life on stage. Some artists may be uneasy about recording a full album live, laying bare their artistry with no place to hide, but Christopher Wyze & The Tellers. A live album provided the perfect opportunity for pure, spontaneous expression of their craft – a chance to strut their stuff and have a blast doing it.

“Stuck In The Mud” is that blues song—the perfect embodiment of what makes the genre so compelling. The fervent piano melody slinks like a cat in a back alley, evoking the feverish heat of a humid Mississippi afternoon. Dedicated fans may even notice a new voice complementing Wyze’s rich, growling vocals. Wyze met Irene Smits at the Shack Up Inn years earlier, sparking a collaborative friendship that stuck. As the show approached, he received a message completely out of the blue from her. It just so happened that Smits had crossed the ocean—from her home in the Netherlands—to perform her signature Piedmont Blues at a nearby venue in Clarksdale on the same day as the live performance. Who’s to say it wasn’t fate? Naturally, Wyze invited Smits to join the band on stage for this track, and it couldn’t have been a more perfect match. Their chemistry brings a whole new energy, taking the blues to its highest heights. But it’s not until Wyze pulls the harmonica out of his back pocket, sliding it with intoxicating finesse, that the whole thing bursts into a sizzling sonic inferno. And “Stuck In The Mud” is just a small sampling of the full album, which features eight of the band’s original radio-charting studio singles and two all-time blues standards from the 1920s: “How Long, How Long Blues” and “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out.”

Many artists tape their live performances so fans far and wide can experience the magic of seeing their favorite band from anywhere. But Live in Clarksdale feels more like a monumental moment captured on film than just another gig. Shot in tandem with the album recording, the show video provides layers upon layers of significance to unpack—the people, the place, the sound—it’s all there to behold, no movie magic required.Juke Joint mojo radiates from each musician on that stage—everyone is lost in the moment, laser-focused, and savoring every second of being up there. So much so, it’s almost impossible to believe that this group of musicians, the newest CW&TT cast, had never performed live together before this moment. More than anything, Live in Clarksdale is a testament to Christopher Wyze & The Tellers’ savvy, skill, and dedication. All in one go, they pay homage to an influential genre that reshaped the musical landscape, deliver a fist-pumping, hootin’ and hollerin’ level performance, and prove that, despite only stepping onto the scene last year, they’re a hurricane of blues bliss about to take the world by storm.