Samantha Fish, Cassie
Taylor, and Dani Wilde
Girls with Guitars
Ruf Records
|
Girls with Guitars is part of the latest installment
of Ruf Records’ Blues Caravan series, an annual tour
by some of the label’s impressive list of artists
that takes in the U.S., the U.K., and continental
Europe. This year’s tour features Samantha Fish,
Cassie Taylor, and Dani Wilde and the accompanying
album will give listeners a chance to hear for
themselves what the fuss is all about with these
three talented ladies.
Despite their youth (all are in their early
20s), Fish, Taylor, and Wilde are seasoned
veterans of the blues scene. Fish has been making
noise in her hometown of Kansas City, MO, and got
the attention of blues fans with her performance at
the 2010 Chicago Blues Festival. Taylor is the
daughter of bluesman Otis Taylor and has appeared on
eight of his CDs, in addition to one of the late
Gary Moore’s albums as a vocalist. Wilde has
released two well-received CDs and is renowned as
much for her vocals as she is her impressive
fretwork.
The 12 tracks are evenly distributed among the
ladies…..Wilde penned three, Taylor three, Fish
three, the trio did one together, plus two covers
(the Rolling Stones’ “Bitch” and Paul Pena’s “Jet
Airliner”). Wilde takes most of the lead guitar
duties, but Fish more than holds her own when she
gets the opportunity (on “We Ain’t Gonna Get Out
Alive,” “Wait A Minute,” “Move On,” and “Come On
Home”). Taylor plays bass and contributes angelic
vocals on her own compositions (“Move On,” “Leaving
Chicago,” and “Satisfy My Soul”). Wilde’s three
tracks include the solo track, “Reason To Stay,”
where she plays dobro, “Mr. Loving Man,” and “Are
You Ready,” which also includes slide guitar by
Fish. The collaboration track is the rousing “Get
Back,” where all take a vocal turn and are
accompanied on guitar by producer Mike Zito.
An impressive release, Girls with Guitars will
definitely make you want to hear more from all three
of these rising stars. Hopefully, this group effort
won’t be just a one-time thing and we will hear much
more from them together as well as separately.
--- Graham
Clarke
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