On the inside sleeve of Shakedown, Melbourne bluesman Chris Russell gives the lowdown. Sentences like “driving down the blacktops in the US southeast, the Mississippi river never far away”, paired with the opening riffs to (Somebody Call The) Po' Po' gives the listener an instant connection with the raw, rambunctious nature of Chris Russell's Chicken Walk.

Since dropping their debut in late-2011, the duo of Russell and Dean Muller played plenty of shows both in Australia and abroad, their guitar-and-drums take on the Delta blues gaining fans wherever they go (including this year's Golden Plains, where they were given The Boot – a moment captured in the album's packaging). CRCW's first album introduced a new generation of local music fans to the blues, an ostensibly American genre whose seductive, dirty sound was baptised by Robert Johnson and confirmed by BB King, John Lee Hooker and Muddy Waters. It was a juicy catfish to be washed down with an ice cold beer and a slice of sweet potato pie. Shakedown is equally as good, but not noticeably better.

Whereas their first album harboured an urgency in its pace and Russell's lyrics, Shakedown instead takes the road less travelled and uses the slow, steady pulse of the mighty Mississip' as its reference point. For every guttural vocal line there's a guitar riff or solo getting worked over like nobody's business.

Although the differences between Shakedown and Chris Russell's Chicken Walk are few and far between, those unfamiliar to CRCW will be impressed. It's not for everyone, but for those looking for a local introduction to the blues it's an example better than most.