CD Reviews-April 2002

Rory Block: I'm Every Woman - Rounder
The once expected formula for recording artist next big hit releases certainly does not fit Rory Block's idea of 'that next project'... This is certainly true for "I'm, Every Woman". I found this release a mixed bag for my tastes. Block is strong with her vocals, esp. shared with Jordan Block Valdna, Gay Adegbalola, Paul Rishell & Annie Raines, Kelly Joe Phelps and an assortment of equally talented muscian...The liabilities for me in this release are nealy half the songs have a 'pop' sound and instrumentation to them...I do not think this a completely objective call on my part. Sometimes too many strings and at times the horns had too much of a small orchestra sound. Block shines when she sounds like she has on her last few releases. Kelly Joe Phelps on "Pretty Polly" or Gaye Adegbalola on "Sea Lion Woman", with hints of Sweet honey & The Rock. When her Al Green cover of "Tired of Being Alone" or "Love TKO" came on I thought I was listening to a Joan Armatrading release...good music but not my sense of blues from Rory Block. The A.Raines & P. Rishell collaboration had the feel of an authentic, rendition...hand clapping & a solid harp puts one on the side of a hill in a clapboard Senetoba, MS church...If you like acapella blues and pop sounding songs from a woman who can sing outside and inside the blues genre, this disc is worth a listen.
-Clancy Dunigan

Lucinda Williams: Essence - Lost Highway
LW has been operating outside the mainstream ever since her debut release, Ramblin' On My Mind, in 1979. Traditional folk, country, and blues influences, coupled with idiomatic lyrics have always been LWs' trademark. She continues this approach on her latest project, Essence. The daughter of a poet, critic, and English lit professor (and friend of Tom T. Hall), Williams was raised with a scholarly cultivation. Although very influenced by Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited, she would later find inspiration from Delta Blues singers such as Skip James and Robert Johnson. Snubbed by both conservative cosmic country and the pretentious folk scene in Houston, Williams found herself in a recording studio in Jacksonville, MS recording acoustic versions of blues and country standards. The result was her maiden release for Folkways Records. Teaming up with a full band, Williams quickly followed up her debut with Happy Woman Blues one year later. Although a darling of the critics, it was as yet unclear into what slot to place the new-fangled artist. It took Lucinda 8 years to follow up her second release; she did so on the independent-rock label Rough Trade. It was there she was dubbed Alternative-Country. While Essence is not a huge departure from Williams' previous recordings, it does have an updated sound. Perhaps it was bringing aboard Charlie Sexton (who has worked with everyone from Bob Dylan to 311)-not only to play an array of instruments but also to help produce-that gives this record such a unique sound. Full of somber and sincere lyrics, Essence comes across as very personal and intimate. For this recording, Lucinda Williams took a dramatically different approach to songwriting than on past efforts. Essentially, it was written over a 10-day period and released just 3 years after her Grammy Award winning 1998 breakthrough Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, which took nearly 10 years and several producers to complete. For the most part, Essence's mood is quiet as it opens with the soft aching of "Lonely Girls", and runs into subsequent songs such as "I Envy The Wind", "Blue", and "Broken Butterflies". The title track has been receiving airplay sparingly on college radio stations as well as stations which are bold enough to step outside the accepted norm. The sensual blues driven ballad has "love as a drug" sexual overtones throughout. In sharp contrast, "Get Right With God" is an autobiographical song pertaining to Williams' current spiritual path. The enigmatic Lucinda Williams has yet to acquiesce to the trendy wave of young country. This singer/songwriter has passed up lucrative record deals for lack of creative control, and in the process has amassed a large cult following-despite her lack of commercial success. Her latest recording, Essence, stays true to Lucinda's convictions to bypass the conventional and stay "loyal to herself, as well as her fans."
- Tony Engelhart