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Tempting Fate
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Barnes and Noble
Tempting Fate
Current price: $20.99
Barnes and Noble
Tempting Fate
Current price: $20.99
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Four years after the gorgeously crafted, self-produced
, Texas guitarist, singer, and songwriter
released her
debut,
in 2021. In the interim, she spent three years as
's lead guitarist in
(she was the first woman to hold that post).
was produced by
(who plays guitar on three songs), and
is accompanied by her road band -- bassist
and drummer
-- and guests including pianist/organist
,
on lap steel, backing vocalist
, and accordionist
, with
and
.
features six originals and four covers and is less polished than its predecessor. Opener "Fragile Peace and Certain War" offers her trademark deep blue, rocking slide licks as her voice, guitar, and
's kick drum roil before
' one-two bass bump sets it choogling. "Texas Girls and Her Boots" is a roadhouse boogie with
's piano driving the band. In excellent voice,
delivers her cleverly penned lyrics with sly joy as her guitar break bites atop
's rhythm playing. "Broken Hearted Blues" features a swelling B-3; it's angry, sad, and determined. The guitar fills and solos snarl and churn against the beat and her passionate singing straddles the line between a roar and a croon. The band delivers a smoking read of
's "The Laws Must Change." Rather than follow the original's harmonica-driven acoustic chart,
engages pure electricity with biting six-string riffs, organ, breakbeat snares, and a funky bassline. Her solo burns into the progression and elevates the groove. The reading of
's "Honey Bee" weds West Texas honky tonk to Cajun zydeco with wiry leads, fills, filthy accordion, clattering snares, and tom-toms.
's singing is expressive, romantic, and sensual. She turns the record on its head with "On My Feet Again," a slinky jazz-blues that showcases sophisticated vocal phrasing and elegant, canny
-esque guitar fills and chord voicings. Two covers close out the set. The first is a silvery, loose, backporch version of
's "It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry" in duet with
. The pair's voices blend seamlessly with the tune's blues root placed front and center.
plays lead guitar on
's reading of
's "Loser." A sinister folk blues at heart, the grain of
's mournful voice weds blues and gospel.
adds effects-laden psychedelic leads, ratcheting up the intensity until it explodes in an orgy of distorted guitars, cracking drums, and swelling keyboards. On
's originals stack up nicely against her cover choices, but it's her astonishing playing and soulful, sophisticated singing that place this record above all others in her catalog. ~ Thom Jurek