(Mandala Hand, 2010):

Before he began banging around Nippertown with such bands as the Lost Radio Rounders and Ramblin Jug Stompers, singer-songwriter Michael Eck was a solo man-with-a-guitar-about-town, pumping out what he likes to describe as “maximum solo acoustic.”

But it’s been a full decade since the release of his last solo album, 2000′s “Small Town Blues” on the Dancing Druid Music label.

He comes roaring back with the new “In My Shoes,” a snappy collection of 11 original songs and a well-chosen cover of “Beyond the Blues” penned by the triumvirate of Peter Case, Bob Neuwirth and Tom Russell.

Unlike his previous solo efforts which usually featured a cast of prominent back-up musicians – “Small Town Blues,” for example, was bolstered by contributions by Rick Bedrosian, Sam Zucchini, Adrian Cohen, Jim Haggerty, Kevin Maul, Rosanne Raneri, MotherJudge and more – this time around, Eck is going it alone.

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