Connor Ray
Music Set to Release New CD from Acclaimed Houston Blues Singer Trudy Lynn, I’ll
Sing the Blues for You, on October 21
Trudy Lynn Will
Celebrate New Album’s Release with a Special Show at Houston’s Big Easy Social
and Pleasure Club on Saturday, October 22
HOUSTON, TX – Connor Ray Music announces an October 21
release date for I’ll Sing the Blues for You, the new CD from
acclaimed Houston-based blues singer Trudy Lynn. I’ll Sing the Blues for
You features 10 tracks dripping with blues, soul and R&B, and
includes her unique takes on songs from Big Mama Thornton, Lowell Fulsom,
Memphis Minnie and Johnny Copeland, among others, as well as the funky
original, “Thru Chasin’ You,” destined to be a fan favorite. Backing Trudy on
the new album are label president Steve Krase on harmonica, David Carter on
guitar, Terry Dry on bass, Randy Wall on keyboards and Matt Johnson on
drums.
Trudy Lynn will celebrate the new album with a special CD
release party show at Houston’s famed Big Easy Social and Pleasure Club on
Saturday, October 22.
“Choosing material for this album was quite an adventure,”
says Trudy about I’ll Sing the Blues for You. “In my musical
career, there are so many blues artists that I have been inspired by.”
In the new album’s liner notes, Trudy explains how its title
came about. “As I’ve said in a previous recording of mine, ‘Everybody’s Got a
Blues Song to Sing.’ One day my daughter gave me a gift of business cards, and
on the top of each card was, Trudy Lynn: I’ll Sing the Blues for You! As
I was looking at the cards, she said, ‘Mama, that’s what you do. You sing the
blues for everybody.’ During so many of my performances, a fan will come up to
me to say, ‘You were singing that song for me. That’s why I came!’ I take these
compliments as stars in my crown, like flowers in my garden.”
I’ll Sing the Blues for You is Trudy Lynn’s 12th
solo album and her third release on the Connor Ray Music label, following up on
2014’s Royal Oaks Blues Café, which hit #1 on the Billboard
Blues Chart; and 2015’s Everything Comes with A Price, which
spent four months on the Living Blues Radio Chart. Trudy is also
a five-time Blues Music Award nominee and was inducted into the Houston Music
Hall of Fame in 2015.
Trudy Lynn was born Lee Audrey Nelms in Houston’s Fifth Ward, where she
began singing as a teenager. After high school, Lynn went to visit her aunt in
Lufkin, where a club called the Cinderella needed a singer. She decided Lee
Audrey Nelms wasn't going to cut it as a stage name. The club had a bunch of
cartoon character names painted on the wall and she noticed “Trudy,” which she
quickly paired with Lynn. “Lynn was something in those days,” she recalls.
“Gloria Lynne, Barbara Lynn. I thought, ‘I’m going to be one of those Lynns,
too, baby.’”
Prior to striking out on her own, Trudy was the vocalist for such Texas
greats as I.J. Gosey and Clarence Green, where Trudy spent five years as the
vocalist for his band. Green was a stern mentor, but Lynn credits him with
helping her become a professional. “He molded me well,” she says. “He's still
in me because of what he taught me. It takes that.” After leaving Green’s band,
Lynn began performing on her own. For years she struggled to get recorded in a
manner deserving of her talent, until 1989 when Trudy signed with John Abbey’s
famed Ichiban label and provided the opportunity for her to tour the world and
perform at the most prestigious festivals, including Lucerne and the Chicago
Blues Festival. While at Ichiban, producers had a strong hand in directing her recordings.
Since joining forces with harmonica wizard Steve Krase and the Connor Ray
Music label in 2014, Lynn has played curator for herself. She has been
writing original songs that blend nicely with the vintage material. The
songs are mostly about good times and bad men. “Each one of these songs
means something to me,” she states. “I truly understand something about each
one of them.”
