| This acoustic/electric slide blues guitarist, who has been recording and touring since the early '60s, has amassed a musical legacy to which few other women of her era can lay claim. It is absolutely astonishing that, considering the list of well-known bluesmen she has either played with or shared a stage (including, but not limited to, Mississippi John Hurt, Lightnin' Hopkins, Muddy Waters, Albert King, Michael Bloomfield, Sonny Terry and John Hammond), as well as roots music personalities like Joan Baez, Phil Ochs and John Prine, I had no prior knowledge of her. She even had a brief stint with the revolutionary Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention! But then again, being of the female persuasion, it is typical that her maverick accomplishments have not been well-promoted in the music industry. Incredibly, this CD is actually her fifth, her d�but CD, All the Good Times, having been released in 1964 and followed up several years later with Full Time Woman and Believing. Karl Sevareid, a bassist in Alice's early band, Snake, later played with Robert Cray. After a 10-year child-raising hiatus in northern California, she released another two CDs, Really Good and Crazy with the Blues on her self-created label, Country conFusion. She has been showcased at both NorthByNortheast (NXNE) in Toronto, Ontario, and SouthBySouthwest (SXSW) in Austin, Texas. Influenced by blues musicians like Bessie Smith and Furry Lewis (the latter via Billy Roberts, who wrote "Hey, Joe"), she recorded a knock-out acoustic version of Blind Willie McTell's "Statesboro Blues" (on Crazy With the Blues), popularized in a blues-rock vein by the Allman Brothers. Since returning to her roots in the Pacific Northwest, she has released this latest CD, self-produced in partnership with acoustic blues guitarist and multi-award-winning Hall of Famer (nine Cascade Blues Muddy Awards) Terry Robb. Mr. Robb, who recently appeared on the Conan O'Brien Show, also plays guitar on this CD, along with Paul DeLay (harmonica) on "Big Boss Man" (great guitar work by Alice here), "Blues in the Bottle" and "Rather Be the Devil", Louis Pain (on B3 on "The Man's So Good" and "Night Patrol"), Duffy Bishop on vocals on "The Man's So Good" and Janice Scroggins (boogie-woogie piano on "Big Boss Man"). Fred Chalenor provides the bass and Kevin Cooke plays drums. Although I prefer Bonnie Raitt's vocal tone to that of Alice, the vocal phrasing on a couple of the tunes is too similar to avoid comparison, although Ms. Stuart is widely considered to have initiated the "Bonnie Raitt sound" (however coincidentally). Alice is certainly better suited to communicate the blues instrumentally rather than vocally, and in fact, she is a much-sought-after instructor. The most appealing of her interpretations, a craft Alice feels is given no respect, were those that incorporated both her folk & blues music influences. My overall favourites were the funky country-blues "Drop Down Daddy", "Wild Bill Jones" and "Sugar Babe". I especially liked "Blues in the Bottle", which sounded like it might have been a rewrite of "Blues With a Feeling", and I found "Hard Time Killin' Floor" inspiring me to come up with accompanying harmony vocals, which is a very unusual reaction for me! The only track which didn't appeal to me was the last one - "Night Patrol" - which was just a tad boring in its straightforward country and western beat. Overall, this CD perked up my ears enough to want to explore her previous releases, especially Crazy with the Blues! N.B. Alice is quite actively still performing in the Seattle area these days. I would definitely recommend catching a live performance from this "First Lady of the Folk-Blues Guitar". |
| CAN'T FIND NO HEAVEN - ALICE STUART |
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