On his first full-length album, Charlie Barath takes the blues into tasty new territory. Barath treats us to haluski, pierogi, halupki and the smell of kielbasa in the kitchen on "High Ball & a Covered Dish," a song inspired by the cooking of his mother, a first generation Polish-American. Forget the catfish, cornbread, beans and barbecue typically on the lyrical menu of blues songs, Barath's "High Ball & a Covered Dish" kicks dupa (look it up) with its ode to Eastern European heritage carrying over to his mom wearing a babushka. The Center Township bluesman's whole "Just Me and My Friend(s)" album brims with fun and fresh concepts, from the "Woody Woodpecker Theme" intro and outro to "Losin' My Mind over You" to the quite-literal narrative in "She Drives Me to Drink" to the playful remorse in "Little Turtle Nightlight," the only object the singer has got left after a serial-cheatin', heart-breakin' woman does her damage.