September's releases are dominated by a group of powerful blueswomen. Danielle Nicole skipped by us last month, but her soul-blues August 28 release Fireflies is too good to pass by, as is Steve Cropper's second posthumous release, Watching The Tide, which also slipped through the cracks. Donna Herula is a Chicago native, but on her latest, Cold Feet, she sounds like she came from a bit farther south with a twangy Texas delivery that emulates a laid-back Wanda Jackson sound. Ojibwe Potawatomi singer Crystal Shawanda's Indian Blues is a mix of hard rockin' blues and soul delivered as powerfully as Shemekia Copeland. Eli Paperboy Reed's Swamp Dogg-produced Getting There showcases Reed's bluesy soul.
Danielle Nicole- Fireflies, August 28
The title cut on Danielle Nicole's latest Fireflies, is aching, melancholy soul, Nicole's gritty vocal a hymn to lost love. Elsewhere, North Mississippi Allstars guitarist Luther Dickinson's wiggly slide workout on” Take Me Back” takes a swampy look back at Nicole's Missouri upbringing and her desire to revisit it after a big city sojurn. Nicole has changed her outlook since her departure from “The kind of town you wish that you could leave and not look back,” wanting to return to the days of being “barefoot on the porch and rockin’ in an old wood swing.” It's a poignant, powerful record, covering two Bill Withers tunes, “Dreams,” and “The Same Love That Made Me Laugh” as well as a slew of her own soul-searching compositions.
