Blues Woman (CD - 2009)

Personnel: Fiona Boyes (vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, slide guitar, resonator guitar); Pinetop Perkins (vocals, piano); Derek O'Brien (guitar); Kaz Kazanoff (harmonica, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, percussion); Marcia Ball, Nick Connolly (piano); Jimi Bott (drums, bongos, washboard, percussion).

Recording information: Wire Recording, Austin, TX.

Midwest Record Recap provocatively suggested Australian singer/guitarist Fiona Boyes "sounds like Bonnie Raitt's evil twin," a comment as insightful as it was amusing. Boyes does, in fact, have a strong Raitt influence (with elements of Marcia Ball and Rory Block), but her approach is noticeably darker, swampier, and more mysterious than Raitt's. One of the great things about BLUES WOMAN is the fact that she is so hard to pin down stylistically. The Aussie is blues-oriented -- that much is clear -- but during the course of this album, she embraces everything from electric Chicago blues on the Howlin' Wolf-influenced "Howlin' at Your Door" to early R&B (of the late-'40s/early-'50s variety) on "Do You Feel Better?" to blues-soul on "Train to Hopesville" and "Waiting for Some Good News." minimize