Whether backing up the blues-club veterans of his native Chicago, turning heads at 2009’s Memphis International Blues Showcase, working as a first-call Windy City gun-for-hire or touring with Zydeco talisman C.J. Chenier, Jacobs is the international roots scene’s fastest mover and hottest tip. So it’s apt that his latest release, Goldfish Blues, was tracked in one whip-cracking, blue-sky-thinking burst at Berlin’s Big D Studio. As renowned for his writing as his burnt-honey voice and stinger guitar, Jacobs brought the best songs of his career to Berlin. From the irresistibly lazy roll of Katie’s Blues to the frayed strut of Dirty Dog, via the jazzy swirl of I Wish and the no-explanation-needed Funky Woman, these tracks nod to vintage traditions but are tooled for modern listeners.