This is kind of an interesting CD, with a female singer who plays lead guitar. The overall style leans towards a style you would expect to see in a laid back smoky bar rather than a heavy rocking blues sound. The vocals aren't forced and seem to be laid back in most of the songs, but I wouldn't say this CD would be classed as easy listening either. The guitar work is pretty decent and works well within the songs even though the serious blues guitar slingers out there have nothing to worry about from Ms. Barksdale. Her voice is excellent with lots of range and emotion. It seems to work much better on the slower sultry songs than the rockers though. That's where her long drawn out notes work best. The heavier numbers sound vocally similar to Melissa Etherage.
The CD starts out with a slow number, "Satisfy Me" which has some heavy guitar overtones. "Little Bit Wild" is a medium tempo almost shuffle tune. "Bigger Than The Moon" is a slow blues where her voice takes center stage and really shines. Were talking old laid back blues & jazz
bar territory here. This is some great stuff. The old Willie Dixon tune "I Just Want To Make Love to You" gets the smoky laid back treatment also. I think this is another good track on this CD. I've heard the tune done in a fast rocking style so much that this really stands out as being different.
The production and sound does has a live feel to it, which seeing that this was recorded in a studio with a "live" audience is expected. Fortunately the live audience doesn't excessively intrude on the songs. That (to me anyway) is a mistake which is made in too many live recordings. Artificially pumping up the audience at the mixing board often takes away from the performance.
Bottom line...this is a good CD that rates three stars out of five, just for being different than the average blues CD that hits my desk.
www.spinoutrecords.com
Becky Barksdale - Lead Guitar & Vocals
Bernie Larson - Rhythm Guitar
Bob Glaub - Bass
Don Heffington - Drums
Murf’s Web: http://home.sprynet.com/~murf01/
This review is copyright © 2000 by Robert Murphy, and Blues On Stage, all rights reserved. Copy, duplication or download prohibited without written permission. For permission to use this review please send an E-mail to Ray Stiles.
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