Shawanda nails it with Church House Blues
Church House Blues Crystal Shawanda | True North Records
She performed for the Obamas at the 2013 inauguration. As a country artist, she hit the Billboard Country Albums top 20 with singles such as You Can Let Go driving sales. Tours followed with such luminaries as Brad Paisley and her career was on fire.
But growing up on the unceded territory of the Wikwemikong First Nations Reserve on Manitoulin Island, Ont., the music that resonated the most with singer Crystal Shawanda was the blues.
Shawanda formed her own label, New Sun, and in 2014 released The Whole Word’s Got the Blues. She has been pursuing her passion since, establishing herself as an exciting new voice in women’s blues on subsequent albums such as Fish Out of Water (2016) and Voodoo Woman (2017).
The singer’s latest collection is a 10 tune album titled Church House Blues. It’s the kind of contemporary cool blues that artists such as Robert Cray, Susan Tedeschi and others specialize in, as does Crystal Shawanda. Anyone who likes blues that straddle Southern rock, roots rock and a more New Orleans than Chicago vibe will find much to enjoy on Church House Blues. Here are five things to know about it:
1. Evil Memory
The album swings in with the title track, which is a solid swinging gospel-tinged rocker with some sweet saxophone and a line about the preacher shakin’ like Little Richard on speed that resonates. But the second song, Evil Memory, is where the true testifying begins. Beginning with a beautiful guitar intro that smacks of classic Peter Green, this slow burning ballad showcases Shawanda’s ability to go from a whisper to a howl with emotion running ragged.
2. Rather Be Alone
About halfway through listening to the album, comes this Koko Taylor-style easy shuffle declaring that even though the romance feels good, it’s wrong and she’d rather be alone. It’s an angry bit of scolding with some sweet keyboards courtesy of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Peter Keys. We’re talking fat organ here.
3. Hey Love
This is such an obvious single. With its vintage early rock ’n’ roll/ Minit Records R&B backing vocals and swampy groove, this is a showcase for session ace Dave Roe (Johnny Cash, Ceelo Green, Yola) to lay down some delightfully elastic bass lines. Love the girl groupstyle chant of hey love from the Mccrary Sisters — backup singers for so many artists, the list would fill the page.
4. Can’t Take It
Talk about telling it like it is. The gospel vocals, the shimmering guitar and those big handclap breaks. This is the slow dance of Church House Blues and it’s a doozy. There is so much emotional output crammed into 2:53.
5. New Orleans Is Sinking
It’s gutsy to cover the Tragically Hip, let alone one of the band’s most beloved song. What can you do to it to make it your own? How about turning it into an amplified slow country blues loaded up with distorted harmonica, dobro, electric slide guitar and a drum track that sounds more like someone slapping two boards together. It not only works, it draws more attention to the late Gord Downie’s lyrics than the original did and they are pretty fine indeed. Also out this week:
Laura Halvorsen
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Loony Joyride EP | AWAL
It’s rare to get a smile pasted on your face within the first 30 seconds of the first track, but In Code has this warped descending chorus that is so straight out of the Angie Stone-school of cool that it just begged to be turned up. Other songs on the six track EP are a bit more familiar with contemporary sounds in R&B, but Loony clearly loves sweet vocal arrangements that lock right into your head. No surprise that she is seeing love in the U.K. for her sound, but also no less than Sir Elton John has featured her on his Rocket Hour Beats1 show. One to watch for sure.
Whitney Rose We Still Go to Rodeos | whitneyrosemusic.com
There is no question that this Prince Edward Island-born and raised artist is working in Austin, Texas-based. The distinctive swing and drive that are an unmistakable part of the sound of acts from Kelly Willis to Tony Price and Sara Hickman is clear throughout the 12song record. Songs such as Home With You — I wanna go home with you/be alone with you/maybe sit out in the yard and get stoned with you — dominate with an easygoing vibe until a rocker such as In A Rut or Better Man breaks up the flow. The vintage style cover art, all big hat and fringe, is classic as is the sound.
X Alphabetland | Fat Possum Records
The first new album from the original lineup of the legendary L.A. punk quartet — Exene Cervenka, John Doe, DJ Bonebrake and Billy Zoom — is the best thing the band has put out since 1982’s Under the Big Black Sun. Zoom, who was near-death with a particularly aggressive form of bladder cancer only a few years ago, is in particularly fine form ripping off those deceptively simple, heavy and aggressive riffs. Ultimately, X is a group unto itself. Doe and Cervenka sound as cool as ever on shaky ragers such as I Gotta Fever.