Ollee Owens- Kenny 'Blues Boss' Wayne- more

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Ollee Owens - Nowhere to Hide

With quavering organ lurking in the background while guitar buzzes and pokes like an unhappy insect, singer Owens and her band whip up an ominous groove on title cut "Nowhere to Hide;" the tenor of "Solid Ground" is much the same as Owens portrays a woman who is understandably wary of what's going on around her. "Solid Ground" finds the soulful singer's sound augmented by up front organ playing from Gabe Klein and saucy sax riffing from Rahsaan Barber. The rhythm of "Roots" adds a little funk to the mix while the arrangement of "Love You Better" reminds of the Rolling Stones; "The Neighborhood" is a strutting slice of streetwise funk and the effort ends with a slow and simmering take on Bob Dylan's "Lord Protect My Child." Owens has a voice capable of moving from growl to purr in a heartbeat and listeners will find this trait exceptionally appealing.

Kenny 'Blues Boss' Wayne - Ooh Yeah!
Get yer dancin' shoes on! Wayne begins his latest album with its title cut and "Ooh Yeah!" finds him singing the title over and over as he boogies like mad on piano; if the listener is not someplace where they can dance you can rest assured that they'll be moving in other ways as the cut plays. Jimmy Bowskill plays a banjo intro on "Whatcha Gonna Do Now?" that recalls Peter Green's guitar riff at the beginning of the Fleetwood Mac super oldie "Oh Well" while "I'm Your Man" sways to a Fats Domino-style groove. Instrumental cut "Sailing with the Sunset" sounds like something that would be heard floating out of a Bourbon Street club while a funky bassline and banjo combine on another dance floor cut, "Try it Out." Wayne has a voice that is very smooth and he never gets rowdy here and he recalls many of the great honey-voiced R&B singers on the pop/soul of "Wishing Well." There's more boogie-woogie waiting on "Honey, Honey, Honey;" "It's Pourin' Down" is classic R&B and possibly the strongest cut here where all the songs are self-penned.

Blue Moon Marquee - New Orleans Sessions
Blue Moon Marquee is the stage name of Canadian blues duo A.W. Cardinal (vocals, guitar) and Jasmine Colette (vocals, upright bass) and here they present a 10-song collection featuring four originals with the rest being covers written by blues greats. With Colette on vocals the pair go way back for a sassy take on Memphis Minnie's "Black Rat Swing" where Danny Abrams on sax adds oomph to the old time blues arrangement. The old timey sound is a Blue Moon Marquee specialty and both singers rollick through a swinging take on the Leadbelly-associated "Ain't Going Down" while the sound is appropriately a bit woozy for an interpretation of Bo Carter's "Let's Get Drunk Again." The four original cuts include the swamp funk of "Trickster Coyote" with harmonica flourishes from sideman Jon Atkinson, the slow, crying barroom blues of "What I Wouldn't Do" and a rocking romp called "Red Dust Rising." Also included are takes on the oft-covered classic "St. James Infirmary" and a nice version of Lonnie Johnson's "Got the Blues So Bad," sung by Cardinal and with more harpoon from Atkinson.

Eric Bibb - In the Real World
Here's a 15-song set of self-penned or co-written songs where Bibb sings and plays various acoustic guitars including, on a couple of occasions, banjo guitar. Known for a sound that reflects his love of both blues and Americana, Bibb opens the effort with "Take the Stage," a hopeful gospel-tinged number about man's desire for a better world. A similar feeling permeates "Walk Steady On" where mandolin, fiddle and slide guitar give the song the potential to be a real barn burner; the song picks up the pace half way through but remains somewhat sedate. Bibb's guitar picking on "Everybody's Got a Right" sounds a bit sinister but the cut is another gospel-tinged cut while "Stealin' Home" moves at the pace of a dirge as it mixes baseball metaphors with biblical musings. "King of the Castle" is a Delta blues where Bibb adopts the persona of a homeless man; "Dear Mavis" is a stripped down and slow blues featuring only Bibb on vocals and guitar and Glen Scott on subtle synthesizer playing, and yes, the Mavis that Bibb heaps adoration on here is Mavis Staples. The album ends with "Victory Voices," a quiet and reflective cut featuring Lily James on co-lead vocals.

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