--you name it.
Those dreary elements have vanished with Nelson's recent Victim of the Blues (Delta Groove), her most wonderful outing in ages. This one absolutely crackles, with singing that goes the extra mile, and a first rate band, including guitarist George Bradfute and keyboardist Jimmy Pugh. Indeed, they sound authentic, in direct contrast to some of Nelson's backing musicians of the last 20 years or more. You know...the rock band
that says, "Yeah, we can play blues--it's easy."
On Victim of the Blues, this collection of players has stripped away pretense and goes for the gut--Bradfute, for instance, isn't afraid to ride one guitar note over several bars if this direct method propels the song to where it should go. The musicians are straightforward and compelling, looking to make emotional ties to what Nelson is doing, rather than providing "power blues," a rock group term which insinuates that traditional blues is really kind of boring and needs to be pumped up.
Victim of the Blues isn't loaded with the most original song choices, because it's stuff blues fans know: Howlin' Wolf's "You'll Be Mine," Chuck Willis' "Feel So Bad" (credited to Lightnin' Hopkins, for some reason), and Percy Mayfield's "Stranger In My Own Home Town." It's one of those scintillating Tracy Nelson records where you can hear her pushing herself as if she's got a rep to uphold; this one roars.