9/1/2006

Dennis Rozanski

Fiona Boyes is no secret around Melbourne. Nor is she one here any longer with the Aussie guitarist/vocalist/songwriter's U.S. debut of Lucky 13. before Kaz Kazanoff signed on as producer and chief horn-blower for this Austin session, Boyes had already accrued a whole history: eight overseas albums, 16 years of touring with he own electric outfits, and winning the "Solo Acoustic" competition of the Blues Foundation's 2003 International Blues Challenge. For this ride all around the stylistic blues map, she and her homeland mates, The Fortune Tellers, get a little help from some American friends, like "Steady Rollin" Bob Margolin, Marcia Bell, and Kazanoff's big, brassy army known as The Texas Horns. Boyes jumps from being an unplugged "Pigmeat Lover" to a "Big, Bigger, Biggest" R&B swingstress fresh from the 1940's to a New Orleans-style groove rider on "You Gonna Miss Me" to the vanquished balladeer behind "Stranger In Your Eyes." And, in cahoots with Ball, a clarinet, and a thunderous tuba, she's one strummin' sassy momma proud to "Celebrate The Curves." Separation from the pack, however, comes when the uptown niceties get checked at the door. You see, Boyes is a Memphis Minnie idolizer, a vocal cross between Maria Muldaur and Melissa Etheridge - a natural growler. So payoff is biggest when she and her axe step into the back alley just looking for trouble. That's where they cavort with Margolin's squalid slide on the belly slithering "Good Lord Made You So" and how the lurch of "Chicken Wants Corn" gets its bite.