Well, Groovesville Arizona. Or Quebec, to be more precise, since that’s where Sass Jordan abides.
There’s nothing very clever about Bitches Blues, nothing very much at all. But sitting in the sunshine listening to it with a beer in hand, I can tell you, is one of life’s simple pleasures. What we have here is 28 minutes of infectiously confident rootsy blues, spread over three originals and five covers.
An ice-cream swirl of organ provides a fanfare, and then guitar weighs in and they set off on a
brisk, crunching take on ‘Still Alive And Well’, the Rick Derringer rocker recently included on Edgar Winter’s Brother Johnny tribute album. Jordan snaps out the lyrics in a rasping voice, like Tina Turner revisiting Nutbush, augmented by duelling guitars and funky bass en route to a revved-up, gospellated final flourish.
But if that suggests a penchant for Johnny Winter-esque rockn'rollin' blues, the rest of the album is subtler, rootsier fare. ‘Chevrolet’ is an old-style blues courtesy of Taj Mahal, with subtle percussion from Cass Pereira and steely Dobro from Chris Caddell accompanying Jordan’s calm vocal, before the arrangement expands to include a harmonica break. And ‘Even’ is a new toon that suggests a couple of bar staff winding down at the piano in the aftermath of Stagger Lee shooting Billy Lyons, Jordan singing slow and sassy while Jesse O’Brien gets rinky-dink on the ivories, all rolling left hand and trilling, chiming, chirruping right. It’s a down-home delight, and little wonder that Jordan lets out a cackling “Yee-how!” at its conclusion.
The barroom vibe is there on ‘Still The World Goes Round’ too, an original that swings around a snapping beat with zippy slide fretwork to the fore, a country-ish pre-chorus and everyone mucking vocally on the refrain. And Cadell unwraps a slithering, squeaking slide solo as the icing on the cake.
The classic ‘You Gotta Move’ is downbeat blues with a plaintive, church-style vocal from Jordan buttressed by simple harmonies, over acoustic chords and spangly Dobro, propelled by sparse bashes of kick drum and tambourine. Lowell George’s ‘Sailin’ Shoes’ then delivers another highlight, setting sail to a background of more juke joint chatter and sparkling, swooning slide, then growing into a loping Southern funkiness accentuated by Jimmy Reid’s rhythm guitar. There’s a singalong chorus, and a jangling piano break from O-Brien, and a slowed down outro to add an extra twist. And there’s a lurching groove too to Freddie King’s ‘Ain’t No Big Deal On You’, with a funky riff and stuttering bass from Scott Marriner over a lazy beat, while Jordan’s gets down with a hoarsely rasped vocal, with a guitar solo of lemon-squeezed sharpness providing extra bite.
They close with another quality original, ‘Change Is Coming’, a sitar intro from Reid setting a reflective tone before it hits a firmer stride with grinding guitar, and squawks of harp from Marriner, over shuffling, offbeat drums. There’s more mournful slide guitar work from Cadell, while Jordan sings, more positively, that “It’s gonna be all or nothing, just believe till you see” – an assertion of hope for hard times.
Bitches Blues aims for a down-to-earth, honest-to-goodness blues vibe. Making that work demands an affinity for the material and the skills to bring it to life. Sass Jordan and her compadres tick both those boxes. Now go get a beer, pull up a chair, and enjoy.
Bitches Blues is released by Stony Plain Records on 3 June.
There’s nothing very clever about Bitches Blues, nothing very much at all. But sitting in the sunshine listening to it with a beer in hand, I can tell you, is one of life’s simple pleasures. What we have here is 28 minutes of infectiously confident rootsy blues, spread over three originals and five covers.
An ice-cream swirl of organ provides a fanfare, and then guitar weighs in and they set off on a
 |
| Sass Jordan makes like Tina Turner - kinda. Pic by Michiel Dreidijk |
But if that suggests a penchant for Johnny Winter-esque rockn'rollin' blues, the rest of the album is subtler, rootsier fare. ‘Chevrolet’ is an old-style blues courtesy of Taj Mahal, with subtle percussion from Cass Pereira and steely Dobro from Chris Caddell accompanying Jordan’s calm vocal, before the arrangement expands to include a harmonica break. And ‘Even’ is a new toon that suggests a couple of bar staff winding down at the piano in the aftermath of Stagger Lee shooting Billy Lyons, Jordan singing slow and sassy while Jesse O’Brien gets rinky-dink on the ivories, all rolling left hand and trilling, chiming, chirruping right. It’s a down-home delight, and little wonder that Jordan lets out a cackling “Yee-how!” at its conclusion.
The barroom vibe is there on ‘Still The World Goes Round’ too, an original that swings around a snapping beat with zippy slide fretwork to the fore, a country-ish pre-chorus and everyone mucking vocally on the refrain. And Cadell unwraps a slithering, squeaking slide solo as the icing on the cake.
The classic ‘You Gotta Move’ is downbeat blues with a plaintive, church-style vocal from Jordan buttressed by simple harmonies, over acoustic chords and spangly Dobro, propelled by sparse bashes of kick drum and tambourine. Lowell George’s ‘Sailin’ Shoes’ then delivers another highlight, setting sail to a background of more juke joint chatter and sparkling, swooning slide, then growing into a loping Southern funkiness accentuated by Jimmy Reid’s rhythm guitar. There’s a singalong chorus, and a jangling piano break from O-Brien, and a slowed down outro to add an extra twist. And there’s a lurching groove too to Freddie King’s ‘Ain’t No Big Deal On You’, with a funky riff and stuttering bass from Scott Marriner over a lazy beat, while Jordan’s gets down with a hoarsely rasped vocal, with a guitar solo of lemon-squeezed sharpness providing extra bite.
They close with another quality original, ‘Change Is Coming’, a sitar intro from Reid setting a reflective tone before it hits a firmer stride with grinding guitar, and squawks of harp from Marriner, over shuffling, offbeat drums. There’s more mournful slide guitar work from Cadell, while Jordan sings, more positively, that “It’s gonna be all or nothing, just believe till you see” – an assertion of hope for hard times.
Bitches Blues aims for a down-to-earth, honest-to-goodness blues vibe. Making that work demands an affinity for the material and the skills to bring it to life. Sass Jordan and her compadres tick both those boxes. Now go get a beer, pull up a chair, and enjoy.
Bitches Blues is released by Stony Plain Records on 3 June.
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