CD Review
Reneé Austin
Sweet Talk
Blind Pig Records (BPCD 5087)
by Dick Houff
Review date: September 2003
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"Keeping the Blues Alive Award"
Achievement for Blues on the Internet
Presented by The Blues Foundation
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Being no stranger to the T.C. area, Reneé Austin's debut with Blind Pig Records comes as no surprise. Born in California, and raised in Texas, she eventually made her way into Minnesota, and immediately started a music career with the influence of that very special Texas sound. A few years back; I asked Stefan Grossman this question, "How and the hell can one state produce so many hot players (to list them would take pages)?" His answer: "Everything stems from the Lightning Hopkins sound; rock, gospel, blues, and even retro/pseudo country-plus real old time country. He could very well be right. Speaking from personal experience, I've opened for many Texas acts that were totally mesmerizing-especially Albert Collins. Well, this album has that same quality and extreme impact going-awesome. It's quite obvious that Reneé's voice is an instrument that commands respect on virtually every track; starting with the opening composition, "Not Alone." On "Pretend We Never Met," Delbert McClinton shares the vocal spotlight, and man do they work well together! I'd like to see them work as a team on future projects-perhaps a whole album! The third track, "When Something Is Wrong" is steeped in gospel and soul-very nice. Reneé gets tough and kicks ass on "Pour The Sugar Slowly." She turns into a "Goddess of Soul" on "Bottom Of A Heart" -the gospel overtones are at the head of the table on this killer track. The next two songs on this session classic are my favs., "Fool Moon" and "Bury The Hatchet"-absolutely magnificent! Nice drive on track #8: "Unraveling," complete with horns. Track #9: "Bitter Water" is just that-bitter! Excellent Movement throughout. Tracks #10: "Ain't Nobody" and #11: "Black Pearl" brings us into a nice bluesy climax. Thanks Reneé! I'll see you on the road. Highly Recommended.
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