Album Review: Mike Mattison & Trash Magic – Turn a Midnight Corner

Singer and guitarist Mike Mattison is best known as a key member of Tedeschi Trucks Band; he’s been with Susan and Derek for more than two decades. And during that time, Mattison has done much more than provide second-guitar textures; his songwriting credits are peppered throughout releases from 2011’s Revelator through 2022’s expansive I am the Moon, and there’s every reason to expect the same when TTB’s Future Soul is released in ‘26. It’s impossible to imagine Tedeschi Trucks Band sounding quite like it does without Mattison’s involvement.

Yet the context of that band isn’t enough to fully express Mike Mattison’s artistry, so in 2014 he launched a concurrent solo career with You Can’t Fight Love. Afterglow followed in 2020, and now in 2026 Mattison returns with his third solo album, Turn a Midnight Corner.

A distracted listen renders the first few tracks on the album as standard-issue blues; nothing at all substandard, but nothing remarkable. The songs deserve closer attention, however, and affording them that courtesy reveals that Turn a Midnight Corner is a rarity within the blues idiom: a concept album. Or at least it’s a collection of thematically-linked songs, chronicling the story of a fictional blues duo of the 1930s who get a second bite at the apple when they’re rediscovered in the ‘70s.

Perhaps loosely based on the career intersection of Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee (who teamed up in the ‘50s and 1960), Turn a Midnight Corner is a narrative set of songs that touch upon race relations, artist exploitation, age-old creative differences and other universal themes. It’s all done with a deft mix of humor, seriousness and lived-in experience that can only come from decades on the road.

The band – Mattison plus Tyler Greenwell (drums), guitarists Dave Yoke and Greg Spradlin and bassist/keyboardist Wesley Flowers – strikes the right balance of loose and tight; the album’s live-in-the-studio production aesthetic emphasizes the former to good effect. The songs are musically unfussy, which lines up with the kind of music that would fit such a story. Mattison seems to under-write some of the lyrical content; “When I Was Loaded” is lyrically minimalist and repetitive, but again, that approach is well-suited to the overall narrative construct.

The country blues of “Traveler” provide one of Turn a Midnight Corner’s highlights. The music is unambitious, but the playing is first-rate and the lyrics move the story along. Mattison’s warm, ragged-but-right vocal texture is superbly suited for this material. “Homesick Lullaby” moves a tiny step beyond the blues for a sound and character that recall Kris Kristofferson. “Be Like a Train” showcases good-time, upbeat country blues, and it features some tasty guitar licks between the vocal phrases.

Somewhat unexpectedly, “Lookee Here” rocks out; it’s the most mainstream blues/rock-leaning cut on the set, and one of its best. The three songs that close out the album offer up a nice mix of Americana-, rock- and country-flavored takes on a blues sensibility. Word has it that Mattison is writing a novella counterpart to Turn a Midnight Corner, one that will flesh out the narrative. Stay tuned.