Miss Blues
On The Front Porch With Miss Blues
In the days of its birth, blues was thought of as the devils music. A strongly
superstitious and religious black culture tried its best to separate the blues as secular
and gospel as sacred.
In reality, blues took much of its feel and form from gospel. They walked hand in hand
down the road together, but at the fork, one went on its way to the small wooden country
Church and the other headed down the other road to the juke joint. Regardless, country
blues can still "take you to Church" as they say. And, gospel can still let you
into the house of the blues. On the CD On The Front Porch with Miss Blues, Miss Blues
delivers a seamless transition of the two styles, bringing out the soul in such blues
classics as "Good Morning Blues" (the first song she ever sang in public for
money some 60+ years ago) and "St. James Infirmary". Her voice breaths an
earthiness into the classic gospel tunes she covers including "Amazing Grace"
and "Swing Low". If you've ever had a doubt how close these two music forms
are, one listen to this CD will remove it forever.
Also, included is folk tune "John Henry," from a time when a good song was just
that, and people were not so adamant to label and separate music into nice, neat little
compartments. Miss Blues' relaxed vocal style makes clear these songs are naturally
suited to live together on the same CD.
Miss Blues is wonderfully supported but not overpowered on the CD by Jason Coombs on
guitar, Mike Olson on bass and Jason Downing on harmonica. The music is simple and pure,
and lets the beauty of the intricacies of Miss Blues voice ring clear on every tune. The
recording has the friendly, uncontrived feel of an impromptu jam on the front porch after
Church and Sunday lunch.
If there were anything to complain about here, it would be that the nine cuts are just not
enough. I wish Miss Blues had sat a while longer before going inside and shutting the
screen door behind. This world needs all of her it can get.
- Blue Lisa -
Southwest Blues CD Review - April 2007
Current Reviews - 2007 Reviews
