Jawbone - 'Hauling' (Loose) Released 31/07/06

Those of you who don't know Detroit's Jawbone – a one-man blues tornado coming out of a basement – it's probably best to start off by telling you he works in the motor industry. Yeah, works. He doesn't aimlessly hang around, drinking tea and waiting for the royalties to roll in – dude fixes cars by day. And at night… Well. Jawbone, the alter ego of one Bob Zabor is the all-hollarin' blues revivalist who's so punk it hurts. If you thought the extent of the motor city's edginess came from Jack n' Meg, The Greenhorns, Von Bondies and hanging out at the Magic Stick, think again. Jawbone played every instrument on his debut record, 2004's 'Dang Blues,' and records in his basement after work, much of his equipment powered through a 12-volt car battery. His music nods to the primitive electro-blues of Howling Wolf and the solo troubadour Hasil Adkins – a thrilling, visceral experience that leaves little to the imagination.

Live, he plays as a one man band, complete with kick drum, mouth harp and antiquated microphone, and even celebrated the opening of his online store by playing an impromptu gig in Detroit's Farmers Market ("next to the donut lady," if you must know). It's this rather DIY approach to things like record contracts, singles and playing live that have won him an army of fans across the globe – in 2004 he played a rapturously received set at Mean Fiddler's Frog club, somehow turning on the indie kids to his stomping live act.

Quite how a man who looks like, well, Hank Marvin's weedy stepson can have got the blues in such style is astonishing, it's almost as if The Beatles had never existed, and the Rolling Stones never dragged the genre from the sumps and backwaters of Mississippi blinking into the sixties. His second album, 'Haulage' is similarly vintage:  'All Want Jesus Name' could have been written by a teenage Dylan. 'John Says' is like lovelorn hillbilly gospel hollered by a moonshine-drunk hick at midnight. Even the first single off the album is a revivalist piece – a cover of Roger Miller's 'Chug A Lug,' with a b-side of Johnny Cash's classic 'Get Rhythm', all recorded on equipment Sun Studios would probably have scoffed at.

It's no coincidence that Jawbone's first album was feted by John Peel, and that he was asked to play at the dj's memorial concert – he typifies the DIY spirit Peel embraced. It's the very definition of low fi – but spit and polish on this would diminish a rough-hewn diamond. Amazingly, this is a sonic masterpiece compared to his debut, 'Dang Blues' which gives the impression of being recorded in a bucket (overdubs? Pah!) and there's even evidence – whisper it quietly – that Jawbone is foraying into, well, tunes.