California guitar star Kid Ramos struts his stuff on his third solo album, stepping out of his West Coast jump-blues persona for a harmonica-heavy session aimed at recapturing the hard-edged interplay of early electric Chicago blues. A veteran of the Fabulous Thunderbirds and the James Harman Band, Ramos has significant assistance from more than a half-dozen guest vocalists-harpists, including Charlie Musselwhite, Paul deLay, and Rod Piazza; all make noteworthy contributions. Ramos and his stellar supporting cast nail the Windy City sound with enjoyable authority, but some of the most entertaining music goes in other directions. Ramos's radically reconfigured take on Bobby "Blue" Bland's "Hold Me Tenderly" creatively infuses a restrained rockabilly feel, and Piazza's jazz-inflected instrumental "Devil's Foot" also successfully strays from the Chicago style. Rick Estrin, of Little Charlie & the Nightcats, shines on "Marion's Mood," a reed-rattling harp showcase in the spirit of the legendary Little Walter, and Johnny Dyer delivers a fine and funky version of Lightnin' Slim's "Mean Old Lonesome Train." Harman's novelty number, "Low Down Woman," is an eccentric gem, and he rips through "Chicken Hearted Woman," with some poultry-plucking guitar from Ramos, in similarly offbeat fashion. --Michael Point