Squeeze Play/Vizztone artist: Cathy Lemons - Black Crow - New Release review

I just received the most recent release (3.25.14), Black Crow,from Cathy Lemons and it covers a lot of bases. Opening with upbeat R&B style track, I'm A Good Woman, written by Kim Wilson, Lemons flexes her laid back bluesy voice over solid bass from Paul Olguin and drums from Robbie Bean. O'Kanes penned, Ain't Gonna Do It has a much more country pop flavor showing lemons voice in it's most comfortable mode on the release. Title track, Black Crow, has a southern rock ballad sound, not unlike Simple Man by Lynyrd Skynyrd. Boogie track, Hip Check Man, features some cool harp work from Stevie Gurr who also adds some spanky guitar riffs to this driving number. On slow blues ballad, You're In My Town Now, Lemons conjures up some really emotional feelings eliciting some excellent guitar work from Gurr and also a really super piano expression from Kevin Zuffi. This is my choice of best track on the release. Earl King's It All Went Down The Drain, has a real country pop feel accentuated by key drum riffs from D'Mar and stylized guitar soloing from Volker Strifler. Another really fun track is James Brown's The Big Payback. Lemons has a solid JB's sound going featuring Doug James on healthy sax work and D'Mar really keeps this track tight. I'm Going To Try features the expressiveness of Pearl with again James adding very nice sax on bottom. Gurr steps up with some really nice blues riffs on this track as well leaving a big opening for James to fill and he fills the air. Texas Shuffle is exactly what you might imagine from the title with Strifler laying down some good old SRV styled guitar riffs. Wrapping the release is The Devil Has Blues Eyes which may be the most honest blues track on the release. Why do I say that you may ask. It is very closely related to Robert Johnson's Hell Hounds On My Trail. With only Gurr on acoustic guitar and harp accompanying Lemons , this track captures a nice delta feel. A very nice conclusion to this release.

  If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! -  ”LIKE”