BLUES

February/March 2000

CATHY LEMONS BLUES BAND

5 "HATS!" Rating! The Tops Baby!

Dark Road

Saloon Recordings (SR1997CD)

The ex-Texan songstress Cathy Lemons has brought her Dallas blues upbringing into play with this newest release. The ex-lead-off singer for John Lee Hooker has honed her vocal licks with Anson Funderburgh, Stevie ray Vaughan and more recently with Mark Hummell and Paris Slim. Since teaming up with bassist Johnny Ace, Lemons has been guiding her own blues ship.

Lemons and Ace have put together a stellar crew of blues performers to help them out on "Dark Road". In the rhythm section with Ace is Kevin Coggins laying down the drumbeats. Steve Freund on guitar is helped out by guest Tommy Castro for 2 tracks, and Rusty Zinn also helps power up the axe work on 2 cuts. The absolutely intense and brilliant piano you hear comes from the fingers of David Maxwell. With such a collection of outstanding artists, the resulting music is effortlessly powerful and magnetic. Through out this CD is a hard driven basic blues feel, richly embroidered with the individual talents of all.

Lemons vocal character is potently dramatic, yet it pours out like sweet syrup. Catch her classic delivery on "Good Morning Little Schoolboy." Maxwell's piano-his runs have that Ch-town barrel- house feel but introduce a bit of jazzy inspiration to the mix-fills all the gaps. His solo keyboarding on "I Need You So Bad" will just take your breath away. The brightly shinin' guitar action keeps you looking at notes to see who is pullin' at the strings. The axe action here is stand out stuff. Freund runs some great pickin' and even stronger rhythm support, as Castro and Zinn lay out some meaty guest leads.

This is an excellent blues CD in the way that is blends strong Texas rhythm influences with Chicago lead configurations. Lemons vocal work is top of the line. She sounds like she's got a full bag of vocal tools in her blues bag! Definitely a winner! This CD has more talent and depth than you can imagine.

--Mark A. Cole