Mary Stokes and her band have been keeping the home blues flame burning for over 13 years now, with increasing power and authority. Their live shows have become near legendary affairs and no blues festival, large or small is complete without the band. This dedication to the cause has clearly paid off. With a touring schedule averaging 200 gigs a year, they are as much in demand in the USA and around Europe as they are at home.

Their last album, 1997's Ten Years On The Road, compiled various recordings made over the years and was a satisfactory primer of the band's achievements to date. Clouds In My Heart captures Mary and the band at one of their incendiary live shows. Recorded just before Christmas at their residency in Bruxelles Pub in Dublin, the album features a stellar collection of blues standards with a sprinkling of like-minded originals.

Among several highlights on this brilliantly-paced set are Billy Boy Arnold's 'I Wish You Would' - eight minutes of heartfelt, passionate singing, searing fretwork and tight ensemble playing, which starts out in high gear and still manages to build to a climax.

With the rhythm section augmented by piano, brass and harmonica, Chuck Willis' 'Feels So Bad' almost leaps out of the speakers, while the smouldering, laid-back grooves of Louisiana Red's 'Alabama Train' and Willie Dixon's 'Same Thing' bring things back to earth.

Originals include the steamrollin' blues of 'Through With You', the slow-burning 'Everybody Knows', and 'Mola Di Bari', possibly the only blues song sung in Italian by an Irish band! The set ends on a suitably subdued note with Billie Holiday's smoky 'Long Gone Blues'.

While hardly groundbreaking in its approach, Clouds In My Heart confirms that the blues are well-and-truly alive and kicking. Great cover too!