With Better the Devil You Know Dave continues to set an example for new generations of musicians by constantly evolving his sound, embracing new artistic collaborations and making records that just keep getting better and better.
Along the way, there have been career highs: opening for his idol, Muddy Waters; earning two WCMAs, a Prairie Music Award, a Whisky Award and countless Maple Blues honours – including the Blues with Feeling (Lifetime Achievement) Award; sharing a JUNO for his contribution to CBC’s Saturday Night Blues Vol. 1 album; and most recently, garnering his third career JUNO nod for his last album, Faded But Not Gone. Billboard’s Larry LeBlanc once wrote that Dave “has done more to shape Western Canada's blues scene than perhaps any other artist.”
Better The Devil You Know sees producer Steve Dawson pushing Dave far beyond his Chicago and Delta blues roots and into country blues, Southern gospel and Americana.
"DESPITE the fact he has a JUNO for eight albums and more than 40 years of music-making under his proverbial belt, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more humble guy than Winnipeg bluesman Big Dave McLean." (Winnipeg Free Press)