The two Quad Cities-based bands providing musical accompaniment to WQPT's Brew Ha Ha in LeClaire Park on Saturday have both released new discs recently, and they're worthy efforts that suggest there will be plenty of great American music to help the beer go down. John Resch & The Detroit Blues have just put out the nine-track We Get Around, while Americana rockers Jim the Mule have released the live To a Sunday disc.

John Resch & The Detroit Blues has been around for nearly two years, essentially a splinter group from Shane Johnson's Blue Train. Bassist and singer Resch teamed up with harmonica player "Detroit" Larry Davison and drummer "TC" Carton, with guitarist Jeff "The Professor" Andrews joining later.

We Get Around features six original blues tunes and a trio of covers, and they showcase the band well. Davison is the heart and soul of the outfit, providing fiery leads to accompany Resch's milky, casual vocals. His first solo on Muddy Waters' "Crosseyed Cat" is a liquid marvel, and he also provides the main hook.

The other instrumentalists are pleasantly professional, and they build a solid backdrop for the bandleader and "Detroit" Larry. Andrews, who co-wrote a pair of songs with Resch, keeps a low profile for a blues guitarist, but that seems a conscious choice; he's adept yet low-key.

We Get Around pretty much sticks to standard blues formulas, but the players keep things interesting by populating the corners of the record - the fills and the like - with elements that keep listeners off-guard, such as the guitar and drum interplay that closes "Think You Know Me?" and the stop-start tempo-shifting percussion on a number of tracks.

The main shortcoming is a lack of energy. That's partly a function of the slow-blues style but also a result of the singing. Resch's vocal style is a bit soft; it rarely matches the intensity of Davison's work and almost seems an afterthought.

His work as a bandleader, composer, and producer is stronger, though. The record sounds clean, with well-defined parts that give each player his due and an opportunity to shine. And there are some fun surprises: a quick, funny harmonica nod to "Smoke on the Water" on "All About Cheap," for instance, and the whole band letting loose on John Lee Hooker's "Boom Boom Boom." On the latter track, Resch seems to abandon his reserved singing style for some hoarse, John Hiatt-like vocal punctuation. Everybody fires on all cylinders, and you get a sense of how much fun John Resch & The Detroit Blues can be.

On To a Sunday, four-piece Jim the Mule uses the live-album format as a venue for 11 original songs. It's certainly cheaper to make than a proper studio record, and it effectively captures the energy, interplay, and harmonies of the band. The quality of the recording leaves something to be desired, but it's great to have a collection of original material from the only local band of its style in this area.

The songs, with music from the band and lyrics by Tom Swanson (who is senior account executive at the River Cities' Reader), are striking in their diversity, from the funky bass and guitar of "Put" to the country stomp of "Gerlaw Pickers Present" to the country rock of "Coal" to the jammy, almost prog-rock, noodling of "F3." The material's range is wide, the band nimble. Although the foursome primarily works in the amped-up idiom, the guitars on "Moreen" have a surprising delicacy.

Guitarists Swanson and Dan Videtich, bassist Jason Gilliland, and drummer Jesse Reimer (they all sing, too) don't give a listener much time to get bored, and the playing is uniformly strong. Even better are the band's harmonies, tight, rich, and a bit worn about the edges.

Jim the Mule recorded To a Sunday over three months at four venues, and to the album's credit the sound is consistent from track to track. The lack of crowd noise on the record lends a refreshing live-in-the-studio quality that's undercut a bit by the expected problems with sound; it's a bit muddy, with the vocals getting short shrift in the mix and frequently warbling and sounding a bit muffled. The slide guitar on "F3" barely registers when it should be front-and-center.

But those shortcomings pretty much come with the territory of a live album, and this record's flaws are preferable to the normal problems that young bands run into in the studio - namely, an inability to capture the live vibe. That's here in abundance, along with 11 strong songs.

John Resch & The Detroit Blues will also play Saturday night at Jimmy B'z. For more information on the band, visit (http://www.detroitblues.com).

Jim the Mule will be hosting a CD release party October 11 at Rock Island Rapids. The band's Web site is (http://www.jimthemule.8m.com).

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