Carolyn Wonderland

Ms Wonderland is special. She has a voice that can do most anything in the Blues or rock canon and she plays guitar with delicacy and almost illegal raunchiness as well as writing songs and interpreting some classics. She comes from Austin Texas, a special place and her band is augmented by some of Austin’s best itinerant musicians. So why isn’t she a superstar? Sadly, talent and ability are overshadowed by FASHION. In the right place this will sell in bucketloads but unfortunately the R&B obsessed trend setters and droogs will never even get to hear this unless they find one of the few real music programs by accident.

Carolyn Wonderland isn’t a great Blues woman, she is a great Blues performer, regardless of her gender.
Her slide guitar on the title track is real down-home bottleneck style and her vocals rasp like a Texan washerwoman. On the Terri Hendrix number 'I Found The Lions’ she gives it some real soul and the band cook up a Muscle Shoals R&B groove. 'Bad Girl Blues’ has real country tinges to it and a whispery and strident vocal that carries the song perfectly. The band turns in a stunning version of Rick Derringer’s 'Still Alive & Well’ with Ms Wonderland sounding distinctly like Janis Joplin – you can almost see the bottle of Jack Daniels slurping as she belts out the refrain. My favourite track here is probably 'The Farmer Song’ which is a straight country Blues number featuring Cindy Cashdollar on Dobro and a vocal performance that had the hairs on the back of my neck at attention.
There is great Blues out there if you are lucky enough to find it and this album proves it. Now go out and support it.

http://www.carolynwonderland.com/