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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