This rare live recording of the exciting, innovative Paul deLay Band was discovered in the archives of Norway's government-owned public television and radio company (NRK) twenty years after the deLay Band's iconic 1997 performance at Norway's top blues festival. Its release on CD generated rave reviews world wide and the CD was nominated for a prestigious BMA for "Best Historical Album" by the Blues Foundation. Below are some of those CD reviews:

Arriving on shelves a decade after his passing, Live at Notodden ’97 captures deLay and his road-tested ensemble at the peak of their creative powers...deLay’s tortured voice channels an emotional intensity that was nearly unparalleled among male blues singers of his generation...deLay was a unique specimen in the blues world: his [harmonica] style was utterly singular.  His endlessly inventive solos, while always firmly grounded in the postwar style of his predecessors, are timeless even today.  Put simply, deLay sounds like deLay and no one else.  --Living Blues


Paul deLay gives all of his creative self to original material presented to a festival audience in Norway ten years before his demise from leukemia in 2007… his harmonicas are always right on the mark with declaratory statements that evidence the endurance of Chicago and West Coast blues.  --Downbeat


The large festival crowd are won over immediately by this superb band which can rock and swing with ease without needing crashing drums or screaming guitars. Add in Delay’s soulful vocals and exuberant harp playing and this is a real winner…This is the easiest review I’ve written for a long time as this superb album lives up to all my hopes and serves as a fine testament to deLay on the tenth anniversary of his death. An absolute gem.  --Blues Matters [UK]


Paul DeLay passed away in 2007 so it is strangely appropriate that this CD, recorded ten years before his death, should see the light of day ten years after his passing. Paul’s band had traveled to Norway in 1997, given a great performance and were flattered to find that they had been recorded and one of their tunes had appeared alongside BB King, Luther Allison and Robert Cray on a commemorative disc of the festival. It was years later that two members of the band thought to inquire whether tapes still existed of the whole performance and the Norwegians responded in the affirmative. So, after all these years we have a new Paul DeLay recording to enjoy…The many fans of Paul DeLay’s playing will be delighted that these tapes were recovered to make a fine memorial to his playing and personality.  --Blues Blast


DeLay was an original, a chromatic harp player who incorporated a jazzy tone into his music; and an inventive songwriter with the ability to express his personal feelings in the songs that he wrote. He had a keen sense of humor, loved a good pun and was one of a kind…This “out of this world” performance may be the Historical Album of The Year. --Making A Scene