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Blues Underground Network |
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Grana' Louise "Gettin' Kinda
Rough!"
One thing is for sure about Grana' Louise, and that is
that she definitely knows how to belt out the Blues. As a matter of
fact she is pretty good at belting out Soul and Rock N' Roll, as well,
something you become quickly aware of after only listening to a few
moments of her Delmark Debut Release, "Gettin' Kinda Rough!". Grana'
Louise' style harkens back to the older days and has been compared to Etta
James, Koko Taylor, and Ruth Brown, which this icon of the Chicago Blues
Scene loves to show off where ever she is performing.
Personally I had not heard of Grana' Louise until I
received "Gettin' Kinda Rough!" in the mail, but I highly respect
Delmark's track record of releasing exceptionally good music, even if the
artist in question may not be the most well known.
"Gettin' Kinda Rough!" consists of a rather interesting
mix of Tracks, 12 in all, of which Grana Louise gets credit for writing 4
of the tracks, with one of them being co-written with Bill Syniar. Bill
Syniar is also one of the musicians on "Gettin' Kinda Rough!", and is
credited with playing all the instruments on Track 7 "Gonna Get
'Cha". The other musicians on "Gettin' Kinda Rough!", included Tom Holland
(Guitar), Bill Hargrave (Bass), Clarence "Curfew" Scott (Drums), Carlos
Showers (Guitar, Tracks 8 - 12). Tom Holland has been a
"professional musician for over 11 years now, Tom Holland has honed
his craft well, and has become one of the most respected, and in demand
guitarists on the Chicago blues scene." Tom Holland also regularly
tours with James Cotton and plays guitar on Cotton's latest critically
acclaimed release, "Giant". Tom Holland plays guitar on all 12 Tracks on
"Gettin' Kinda Rough!", joining in with Guitarist Carlos Showers during
the Live part of this Album.
As far as the Covers go for "Gettin' Kinda Rough!", I
found them to be a very very interesting mix, after all, it is not often,
if ever, that one finds both "Stagger Lee' and "Hey Joe" on the same
Album. Another interesting choice for "Gettin' Kinda Rough!", was "I Can't
Stand The Rain".
"Gettin' Kinda Rough!" starts off with "Stagger Lee", a
song that I simply love no matter who does it, and Grana' Louise also does
a great job with this classic. This first track also gives us a sense of
the great guitar work of Tom Holland, with the nice bit of solo work he
gets into at around the halfway mark of "Stagger Lee".
Getting a feel for where Grana' Louise may be coming
from, could have been the inspiration behind the first Original song,
"Lead Foot Mama", which is perfectly delivered for her style and one
in which you start to get a great feel for the way in which
Grana' Louise has chosen to perform.
One thing I noticed right away after I received this Album
was the big yellow sticker on the back which said, "Warning: Contains
Sexually Explicit Lyrics". Now mind you, I have gotten CD's before with
that label and they certainly lived up to it, but I must admit that for
the few songs that are on this Album, which fall under that warning, they
are still fairly mild in that regard, bordering on more humorous than
anything else.
"Gettin' Kinda Rough!" is a pretty near a split Album for
the way it was recorded, with the first 7 Tracks being done in a Studio
and the last 5 being done Live. I have run across a few Albums over the
last year or so that are done this way and find them to be very
interesting to listen to and to compare how different, if at all, the Live
performances are from the Studio ones. With "Gettin' Kinda Rough!", there
is definitely that hollow sound but the music and singing still
comes across strong and very entertaining. The Live Tracks were recorded
at the Blue Chicago, which is located on Clark Street in Chicago. http://www.bluechicago.com/
With "Gettin' Kinda Rough!", I found all the
performances to be rock solid, with nothing overly spectacular, yet still
the right mix of great vocal delivery and musicianship to keep you
interested and attentive throughout. As I said earlier, Grana'
Louise' style has been compared to Etta James, Koko Taylor, and Ruth Brown
and if those are artists whom are on your favorites list, then "Gettin'
Kinda Rough!", is certainly an Album you should be getting yourself
acquainted with.
All in all, "Gettin' Kinda Rough!" was a great
introduction for me of Grana' Louise. She is a very fine singer and a
equally great entertainer, as the Live Tracks on this Album certainly
prove.
Review by John Vermilyea (Blues Underground Network)
Additional Info
Tracklist
1. Stagger Lee
2. Lead Foot Mama 3. Where You Been? 4. Learning How To Cheat On You 5. Big Dick, M'isipi 6. Bang Bang Ba-Bang Bang Bang Bang! 7. Gonna Get 'Cha 8. Wet Match 9. Queen Bee 10. Back Door Blues 11. I Can't Stand The Rain 12. Hey Joe
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