Are you planning on taking a blues excursion this year? Thinking about possible regions to visit on the trip? Sure ya gotta consider Memphis, New Orleans and the rest of the Delta area. Texas and Los Angeles are two more red hot blues spots. Then of course ya got Chicago and the Detroit scene. Maybe you should even consider crossing the boarder. No, not that boarder, the other one. Some of the hottest blues in the past few years has been coming to us from the North, and SHIRLEY JACKSON & HER GOOD ROCKIN' DADDY'S - another excellent blues band from Canada - are obviously musically equipped to see to it that it keeps on coming.

On "CAREFUL WHAT YOU ASK FOR", her new CD which features 8 original tracks, SHIRLEY JACKSON has quite an entourage of talented musicians whom she refers to as her GOOD ROCKIN' DADDY'S. Joining SHIRLEY who sings, plays tenor sax and acoustic guitar are: BRAD CONRAD, DAN DUFOR, JOHN LYMAN and DAVE MacISSAC, all on various guitars; BARRY COOKE, on keyboards; GARRY POTTS, on drums; MORROW SCOTT-BROWN and JEFF WIRCHENKO, on bass; JOE MURPHY and PHIL POTVIN, on harmonica; DAWN HATFIELD, on baritone sax; LAYNE FRANCIS, tenor sax.

The CD opens with the title track, an original called, "CAREFUL WHAT YOU ASK FOR", which features some real hot harmonica and piano playing. This number puts the band into a groove that they stay in right through the next few cover tracks - "I WANT YOU TO BE MY BABY", "TE NI NEE NI NU" and "SO GOOD TO MY BABY" - all of which feature outstanding sax and piano playing.

Two other excellent originals, DON'T COME AROUND HERE" - a real shaker, and "IT'S RAINING" - a very nice ballad, both featured some excellent guitar and sax work. A third original, a very retro sounding "MILLION DOLLAR HEART" features a great bass sound and some excellent steel pedal guitar.

"CAREFUL WHAT YOU ASK FOR" is an all around excellent CD. Besides being impressed with the complete production and arrangements of this CD, there were several individual musicians who seemed to impress me with their excellence. Those being both Harp players, PHIL POTVIN and JOE MURPHY; The piano player BARRY COOKE; DAWN HATFIELD on the baritone sax; And on the tenor sax, SHIRLEY JACKSON who clearly shows her worthiness of winning the Toronto Maple Blues Award for Best Horn Player of the Year - 2003.