Shannon Curfman [Loud Guitars Big Suspicions] 

This was one of those discs that i picked right off the shelf without knowing a single thing about it, those were the days where you either risked things that way, or you just left them on the shelf for good, now you can listen to an album on all sorts of sites before you buy, yes i had to do things the only hard way, but these risks sometimes paid off handsomely, and that was certainly the case here, i bought it because it 'looked good enough to eat' as i thought at the time, the title of the album comes from the lyrics in a Sheryl Crow song [Hard To Make A Stand], which Curfman records here, this appeared in my Blog in 2011 [3rd August 2011].

Shannon Curfman is American, still only 27, she recorded this disc in 1999 at the incredible age of 14!, she sounds like a veteran on the guitar, but even more incredibly sounds like Janis Joplin with her voice, the front cover photograph is just tremendous [by Marina Chavez], it shouted out of the racks 'buy me!', and so i did!, it's a great pose, and the colours are great, and the lettering slightly leaning is nice too, a phenomenal debut from Curfman.

Well on this listen it just has to be track 2 'No Riders' which astounded me yet again, it's a Shannon Curfman original, and it's probably the most Bluesy track on the album, love the guitar intro [0:00-0:09], probably by Curfman, but it's the mandolin played by Kevin Bowe afterwards that really makes the song, makes a powerful vibe, lots of different guitars in the mix, Curfman plays a strong electric guitar solo inbetween the verses [1:15-1:48], in the second verse i just love the way it stars off quiet, but then the strong beat comes in [1:58+], a magical moment, Pat Hayes plays the harp [harmonica] in the background, really going quite wild, it's the constant mandolin vibe that just drives me crazy.

Here's Shannon Curfman playing 'No Riders' on YouTube.

Buddy Guy [Feels Like Rain]

And now time for some Blues!, yes i am into this genre as well, but i've never developed deeply into the Blues, it's still uncharted territory for me, Buddy Guy happens to be my favourite Blues Artist, and scanning over his Wikipedia page, there's a lot of great Artists who feel he's the guitarist of note [Eric Clapton for instance], but unlike pure guitarists, who were 'merely' lead guitarists in a band, Buddy Guy can sing his socks off too, a powerful strong Chicago Blues voice [or what i call 'shouting' Blues], his voice commands an enormous spectrum, and he has this uncanny ability to know just the right turn of phrase to use to excite audiences, he can sing soft too, an all rounder.

Buddy Guy is now 75, born in America, he still seems to be going strong, though with a lack of hair!, he recorded this album in 1993, the sticker on the back cover is of another Buddy Guy album 'Buddy's Baddest, The Best Of Buddy Guy', and i've amalgamated them into a two disc set, of the 11 tracks, only the first and last are Buddy Guy originals, the rest are covers of interesting material, the front cover photograph [by Gary Spector] is excellent, showing guy wearing overalls, lovely sharp picture, a shot taken from a low angle, looking up into the sky, nice lighting on the face, while the back of the right side of his face is in shadow, the purple theme / lettering is great too.

Of all of these tracks, i really got into them all, except maybe tracks 2 & 6, which are the weak ones, the track which really hit me was track 7 'Change In The Weather',  a John Fogerty song, but here Buddy Guy sings it as a duet with Travis Tritt, and Tritt is in excellent form, taking a cue from the delivery of the original voice, the way Guy and Tritt swap vocal duties is exciting, more than a duet it sounds like a dialogue [much like the following track with John Mayall], as if they're a tag team, or a couple of Newscaster Anchors explaining the coming storms, Tritt can growl and shout, but so can Guy, the song develops a real intensity, at the end both Guy and Tritt ad-lib as an outro [3:27-4:02], and it's Tritt that seems to be more inventive, Buddy Guy gets a nice guitar solo in before the end, tremendous enthusiasm from the performers. 

Here's Buddy Guy & Travis Tritt singing 'Change In The Weather' on YouTube.

Shannon Curfman [Loud Guitars Big Suspicions]

Back in 2001, i set in motion a new programme to discover new music, i would go into a big store record in London, and just systematically search through the racks, singling out discs that looked absolutely stunning, that was the only consideration, forget about the actual music!, i picked up some phenomenal discs this way, some real duds too!, but it widened my musical love no end, i got into some genres / Artists that i wouldn't have otherwise tried, this is one of the first i got, and i'm so glad i did, and looking at her website, it reminds me to check out her other albums also.

Shannon Curfman is American, born in 1985, she's was 26 last week, she recorded this album in 1999 at the tender age of 14!, but her songwriting and vocal skills are such that she sounds like a Blues veteran!, like i said above, the visuals for this release are stunning, both the booklet and the back insert are lighted wonderfully, great poses too, a really great product all round.

I enjoyed tracks 2, 4 & 6-8, but it's always been track 2 'No Riders' which remains my favourite track, the intro sounds like an electric mandolin [Kevin Bowe], but it could be Shannon Curfman playing the guitar, this riff really makes the whole piece [0:00-0:10], very old time delta bluesy, when the chorus bursts in [0:43+] so do the drums, a nice ratcheting up of another notch, the vocals and drums [Michael Bland] fit together perfectly, the second verse is fantastic, things quiet down with the acoustic mandolin playing solo [1:46+], and the start of the verse is sparse and restrained [1:50+], but the drums and harmonica [Pat Hayes] burst in [1:58+], making a superb transition, it's a fantastic Blues track, really developing a great intensity.

Here's Shannon Curfman singing 'Playing With Fire' on YouTube.

Eva Cassidy [Live At Blues Alley]

It's hard to categorize Eva Cassidy, but i guess i'll put her in the Blues bracket, i haven't heard her other albums, so i suppose this just might be more Bluesy than usual because she chose this programme especially for this venue, on the whole i hate live albums, a stadium full of screaming whistling kids isn't my thing, but Blues Alley is very intimate, or maybe hardly anyone turned up!.

Eva Cassidy is American, born in 1963, and died in 1996 at the young age of 33 of cancer, she wasn't recognized in her own lifetime, but became phenomenally famous afterwards, she recorded this album in early 1996, by the end of the year she was dead, the front cover photo [by Larry Melton], is a black and white shot of Eva outside Blues Alley, i really like it, even though there's not quite enough contrast in the photo, the pose is good, nice angles too, the lettering is my own, rubbed on transfers down the side, and track numbers on the back, why don't record companies provide track numbers?, it's crazy.

The tracks that really moved me were 3, 5, 8-9 & 12, on the whole these are the more slower reflective songs, and Eva Cassidy has a certain way with ever so subtly making vocal changes / additions, that sound just perfect, they make a phenomenal difference to the whole mood of the piece, the two best tracks on this listen were 9 & 12, here's my synopsis of both,

9 - Autumn Leaves, unlike some of the other tracks on the album, this features just Eva on guitar and vocals for the most part, with a central instrumental for guitar and piano [Lenny Williams], a gently warm electric guitar, 'i see your lips, the summer kisses', it's so atmospheric, and heartbreaking too, 'and soon i'll hear, old winters song', it's that heightened expression on 'old' [1:38] that is so delicious, and repeated later in the song [3:25], the piano [2:13-3:04] has also a gentle tinkling of the ivories, a nice little variety to break up the song and give it variety, Eva creates a real intensity with little instrumentation.
12 - What A Wonderful World, this song really affected me, of course the famous version is by Louis Armstrong, and he's such an idiomatic singer, with that wonderful husky growl, of course Eva Cassidy is nothing like that, she sings this song fairly straight, she doesn't turn it into Gospel or anything, and it's this straightness that is so disarming, the song seems to have a life of its own, the greatness isn't particularly in the singer, it's the song itself, Eva misses out a verse, the one about 'skies of blue' etc, i wonder why?, the background piano is cleverly done [especially 1:40+ & 3:37+], and this song closes the set, one month before she died, she sang this one lone song live as a 'farewell', it closed her life perfectly, and i guess in some ways it epitomized her life too.