Rosie Flores

There are a great many Blues singers of the female persuasion at the moment and most of them have a special ‘something’ that sets them apart from the rest. In Rosie Flores case it is a wonderful ability to switch between rockabilly, Blues and soul and – as one who doesn’t normally enjoy rockabilly – give all the forms equal quality. Add to her singing abilities the fact that she plays a very mean guitar. In short, she is a class act.

A lot of her music is rooted in rockabilly and ‘50’s rock & roll with the album kicking off with a fine version of ‘Love Don’t Love Nobody’ featuring gorgeous piano from T Jarrod Bonta and Flores guitar licks, the song rollicking along with real pace and verve.
She then switches into full on Blues/Soul mode with a warm and passionate version of ‘Mercy Fell Like Rain’ and we get to hear the full strength of her voice, undercut by a whispery quality. The effect is chilling and, again, her guitar playing is stunning. She goes on to cover Lieber & Stoller’s ‘I Want To Do More’ with a real jaunty bop to it ( Greg Williams sax a real joy) before delving back deeply into the Blues with the title track.

Wynona Carr’s ‘Till The Well Runs Dry’ has a real groove to it, the full rock & roll treatment and then the mood really touches on teen-angst with a brilliant cut on Dwight Yoakam’s ‘If There Was A Way’.

My personal favourite track is ‘Teenage Rampage’ where she shares guitar licks with Kenny Vaughan on an instrumental rocker that just brings a smile to your face.

It is a much better album than I was expecting, she has a great voice and sense of the music and the whole really put me in a great mood for the day.