Hans Theessink is from the Netherlands and has been playing music for over 40 years. This project is the soundtrack to the Austrian adaptation of the English play Everyman. Lots of stylings here including some gospel, country, bluegrass, but mainly blues. Most songs are stripped down with only a couple instruments. Instrumentation of guitar, mandolin, bass, drums, piano, harmonica, accordion. Hans covers many artists here including Tom Waits, Johnny Cash, Mick Jagger & Keith Richards, Ray Charles and others, as well as a few originals. Some fine playing here. No FCC’s.

*My Favorites*: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 11, 13, 15, 17, 18.

1. *(3:41) Slow / Mid. Tom Waits song, completely re-worked, sounding nothing like Tom’s version. Quite church-like, with organ, great guitar, brushes on drums, backing vocals. Nice.
2. *(3:12) Mid. Johnny Cash song. Sparse with guitar and voice, powerful like Cash’s.
3. *(5:14) Slow / Mid. Jagger / Richards tune. Lap steel, guitar, minimal drums. Well done.
4. *(4:10) Slow / Mid. Bo Diddley classic. Has that same plodding guitar beat with great slide work.
5. (1:57) Slow. Nick Lowe song. Very quiet, very sparse. Guitar and voice. Heartfelt.
6. *(3:21) Mid. Great slide work with backing vocals. Wow!
7. *(5:02) Slow / Mid. Hans original. Lots of space, slow slide, echoey, backing vocals. Eerie, moody and beautiful.
8. *(4:52) Slow / Mid. Hans original, channeling some classic sounds, a bit doo wop-ish, folksy. Sublime stuff.
9. (2:35) Mid. Hans original. Old-timey sound with mandolin, guitar.
10. (4:12) Mid. Ray Charles classic. Upbeat, ragtimey piano, guitar. Cool, fun version.
11. *(3:07) Mid. Slide guitar goodness. Hans and female vocal duet. Beautiful.
12. (3:39) Slow / Mid. Hank Williams song. Heavy lyrics around a mandolin and guitar. Very nicely done.
13. *(3:38) Slow. Hollow, plodding sound. Strong backing vocals, nice guitar work, minimal drum work.
14. (3:49) Mid. Hans original. Full band, backing vocals. A bit restrained but hard-hitting.
15. *(2:32) Mid. Guitar propels the song, backing vocals very cool. Beautiful.
16. (3:25) Slow / Mid. Curtis Mayfield song. Organ, heavy drumbeat, backing vocals. Soulful, of course.
17. *(7:21) Slow / Mid. Another Jagger / Richards classic, stripped down. Great slide, strummed guitar, harmonica. Ominous mood, maybe more so than the original. Hans, with female singer, does a bit of the ‘whoo hoo’. Great last minute and a half.
18. *(5:06) Mid. Joe South song. Country, tex-mex border sound with accordion. Anthemic tune, backing vocals. Very cool.