Nancy Wenstrom

American rock can mean so many things. It can be the blues that rose out of the deep south and ricocheted around the world to inspire countless musicians and birth so many genres. It can be that heartland rock that brings you right to that front porch in middle America anytime you hear it. Or maybe you think of those breezy, sun-drenched tunes that exploded out of California.

The latest album from Bay-Area songsmith Nancy Wenstrom takes on each of these personalities to give us an eclectic ride through her ever-changing life. With the help of a murderer's row of studio session pros as well as producing co-pilot Joel Jaffe, Wenstrom has unveiled a collection of songs full of personal struggles and travel tales. Blues, Americana, and California soft rock each take their turn as Wenstrom explores the different places where she has left a piece of herself along the way.

The opener 'California Love' is a dreamy, swaying ode to the times with her family in the Golden State. Waltzing strummed acoustics and casually layered electric melodies play out as Wenstrom waxes poetic about her favourite state. She follows that up with a trip down south, further relenting the pace to an Alabama crawl. This slice of Americana gleams with creamy pedal steel and channels a gospel theme. Standout track 'Vintage Tears' steers us out of 'Bama and through the Texas plains for a spaghetti western melancholy riding tune. Hardy Hemphill's lonesome harmonica duets beautifully with Wenstrom's rambling woman lyrics.

Act 2 of 3 dives into the blues, finding deeper grooves and slithering guitars. 'Dr. Rhythm' is a sultry bump and grind bar band move'n'shaker. Wenstrom's fingers go for a walk, screeching and snarling alongside the frisky upright piano. 'Reusable' rolls smooth like a classic Stevie Ray Vaughn Texas shuffle. The singer-songwriter talks of taking her lumps and getting back up and fighting for another day.

She bounces back and forth between heartfelt Americana ballads and gruff-spirited blues a few more times before ending on the groovy 'Mercedes Ladies' to bookend the album with another California love letter. This time she's lived a few more years and seen a lot more things. The little girl from the opener touring California in her parent's car is returning with a rip in a Mercedes with her friends down to the border for a good time.

Inside Story shows off Nancy Wenstrom's range, her guitar prowess, and her chops as an emotionally expressive storyteller. The album travels through the genres of America just as Wenstrom did growing up as an “Air Force rat”. Moving town to town, seeing more of the United States than most will in their entire lives. There's an old convention from the classic studio days about each region having a feel that can only be created by being in that region. California had the “California Sound”, the south had the “Muscle Shoals Sound”, New York had the “New York Sound”. These days we think that the digital realm has made us accessible to everywhere all of the time and that any sound can be created anywhere on the planet. When you hear a record like this, it's proof that there's no substitute for hitting the road and getting a town's dirt between your toes.