Curran makes both Getting It Right and Getting the Spirit seem easy; his retro blues doesn't give off so much as a whiff of the moldy fig, but neither does he descend into camp, parody, or self-parody. A recovering rockabilly, his heart is with the jump 'n' jive of Wynonie Harris ("Down Boy Down," the instrumental "The Groovy Jam"), but he can also raise a ruckus like Little Richard ("Heeby Jeebies"), head for Chicago (Little Walter's "Crazy Mixed Up World," "Leavin'"), or ease into a classy Duke-Peacock groove (Bobby Bland's "Honey Bee"). As a guitarist, he is solidly in the T-Bone Walker/B.B. King style, but with enough quirks that it never sounds like slavish imitation. His originals hold their own with the chestnuts, and he's such an assured vocalist that ballads like "Come Back" come off as well as the rockers. You'd be hard-pressed to find another album that's as much flat-out fun. --John Morthland