" data-original-title="" title="">Davy Knowles inaugurated a monthly series of live concert downloads during the course of 2017. As the title denotes, Best of the Bootlegs 2017 is purportedly the proverbial cream of that digital crop, and the approximately seventy-five minute CD fairly well depicts the live presentations of the Isle of Man native.

The collection succeeds in part because the acoustic mini-sets Knowles favors are represented here, albeit in the shortened form. He will usually play a handful of tunes when commandeering the stage alone, but this inclusion of just a pair is worthy for "Amber's Song" alone: by both structure and subject, this delicate homage to Davy's spouse suggests he might well garner a pop hit someday. No less close to Knowles' heart, but decidedly more intense—almost feverishly so in fact—is "First Words Of A Changing Man," which suggests the roadwork from which these cuts are derived is the very process by which the guitarist/vocalist/songwriter enacts, then reflects upon his personal metamorphoses.

Davy Knowles often hearkens to the late Sixties age of contemporary electric blues, and favorably so. One such instance is "Coming Up For Air," which echoes the great British quartet Free. A more direct homage to his roots appears at other junctures. "Outside Women Blues," for instance, is one of