Release Date : November 15, 2025
By Phillip Smith; November 29, 2025
Original source : phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com
Hi Class, the fourth and latest album from New Orleans-based
singer/guitarist/bandleader Frenchie Moe is a heaping nine-track serving
of Windy-City blues and Southern soul piled high with funky grooves, and
masterfully played guitar. The songs she chooses to cover on this record make
for a very cool mix of deep cuts. With Frenchie on all guitars and
vocals, she is joined by Bruce Elsensohn (organ/piano) Mikey B3
(organ) Scott Perro (piano/organ) Ward Smith (sax), Stephen
Menold (bass), Andy Villafarra (bass) and Keith Hawins (drums).
Frenchie kicks the album off with “I Been Teasin’ You” a masterfully-played follow-up to Luther Allison’s “You Been Teasin’ Me”. I dig the layer of anticipation Perro constructs on his intro to the Alan Toussaint-penned “Happiness”. This 1979 Top 40 hit for The Pointer Sisters is beautifully accented with horns and searing guitar licks. I love “Scattered (Topped & Diced)”, her tip-of-the-hat to my favorite southern dining chain Waffle House and the play-on-words to the various ways they serve hash browns. Her stand-out duet with guest vocalist Tiffany Pollack for “The Hunter” quickly draws my attention. Written by Steve Cropper and Booker T Jones, the song was first recorded by Albert King for his 1967 album Born Under a Bad Sign released by Stax Records. In a soulful wave of tranquility, her cover of Johnny “Guitar” Watson’s “I Want To Ta Ta You Babe” brings the record to its end with stylings which bring to mind a sort of mix between Stevie Ray Vaughan and George Benson and it sounds great.
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Available on Spotify
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