Customer Reviews

Going Back to Mississippi

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Nora is a moving performer, and Carl Weathersby is in fine form as he contributes his firey guitar to compositions.

she has more soul than the next forty top forty singers put together so the twenty word requirement is met

Her story is what blues songs are written about--once a worker at a cotton gin in the Mississippi delta, Nora Jean Wallace one night boarded a bus headed to Chicago to answer her calling--singing the blues. Her inspiration was Koko Taylor, who told her to stick with it after a gig at the Chicago Blues Festival in 2004, and it shows. Many of the selection's lyrics refer to the tough times that she apparently experienced in her younger days; others take a sassy look at life and relationships; but the CD's best track is "Miss Mae's Juke Joint"; a joyful look at how working folks unwind at the club. Another track; "Tearful Blues" is an unusual jazz-blues fusion that will surprise you as it is totally different from the rest of the CD; but it works. Her band is strong; with Carl Weathersby the guitarist on most of the tracks. Her voice takes some getting used to; it's huge and raw even on the slower, gentler tracks; a little finesse and restraint is in order here. She's no Shemekia Copeland; not yet at least. But if Koko Taylor saw promise in her; that's good enough for me. Fans of Koko Taylor or Shemekia Copeland should like this one.