Jason Kennedy of Hi-Fi+ has a new review for Doug MacLeod’s Break the Chain:

“Reference Recordings has a long history of making fabulous recordings, and engineer Keith O. Johnson apparently has a knack for capturing both the sound of the room and the musicians and producing releases that combine naturalness with dynamics in a highly convincing manner. … one of the label’s greatest assets is contemporary blues singer Doug MacLeod. … On this album he’s accompanied for the most part by guys playing acoustic instruments…which is ripe for spacious and open-sounding albums with lots of natural reverb in the right room. And that’s what you get here: a lovely acoustic guitar, bass and percussion in a studio that has a very even reverb character and just the right amount of space. Johnson’s recording captures it correctly so that a good system can put the band and the acoustic in front of you. What’s more, the music is rather good too. MacLeod may not look like your typical blues artist, but he sings from the heart…and has something meaningful to sing about. He’s also a great guitar player and the instrumentals on Break the Chain are just as appealing as the songs. …an album of great music with great sound;both the vinyl and the high-res download are superb.”