Original And Best

He's been languishing in the undergrowth for way too long. But Lonnie Donegan has emerged from the shadows with a mighty fine album, a calling card to be proud of, especially when he comes knocking on the doors of an entire generation who missed out on the delights of 'My Old Man's A Dustman'.

This is the man who claims parentage to skiffle, a heady mix of blues, country and folk styles, with the genetic scaffolding of washboard, tea chest bass and spanish guitar. Donegan himself claims Leadbelly and Woody Guthrie as huge influences, and everyone from The Beatles and Rory Gallagher to Queen claimed kinship to Donegan and his skiffle groups when they began to emerge from his shadow in the '60s.

Muleskinner Blues is Donegan's comeback album, a wondrous amalgam of skiffle, straightforward down home blues and some of the funkiest storytelling techniques you'll encounter outside of a Gil Scott Heron album.

Okay, so a tendency to lapse into the melodrama of cabaret is Donegan's achilles heel, but in an age when lounge reigns, even the cheesy 'Spanish Nights' with its breathy infatuated tones, somehow manages to soothe rather than irk the sensibilities.

Standouts are hard to finger, simply because there are so many. Amid a stellar support cast (a truly eclectic bunch that includes everyone from the ubiquitous Van the Man to Albert Lee, Peter Sarstedt and Eden Kane (woah - what a blast from the past!), Sam Brown and the Cajun geniuses, Joel Le Sonnier and Rufus Thibodeaux, Donegan conducts like a grand master.

'I Don't Wanna Lose You' is highway-bound singalong with enough colour and shade from accordion, fiddle and bass to render the chorus harmonies into one of those tunes that reverberates in the subconscious hours after you've heard it. 'I'm Alabammy Bound' is, as its name suggests, a blues/country confection and Donegan's pairing with Van is as inspired as it is reminiscent of where they both came from: it was the rawest, earliest stories that were the magnet for both to pick up a guitar way back when.

Donegan's original ticket to the charts, 'Rock Island Line' is here in all its train trackin' glory and 'Stewball' leaves all the space in the world for some intricate backing harmonies from Sam Brown and Sonia Buchanan.

Forget the clichés about Lonnie Donegan - one listen to Muleskinner Blues and anyone who's ever loved The Fleadh Cowboys, Leadbelly or Ry Cooder will feel like they've come home to Mama. A wonderful return to form.