2025 – Blue Elan Records
Release Date : Mar.
28, 2025
By Phillip Smith; Mar. 15, 2025
Original source : phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com
Janiva Magness has been one of my favorite blues singers for quite a
while. Her amazing talent has earned her
seven Blues Music Awards including the BB King Entertainer of the
Year in 2009, and a Grammy nomination for her 2016 album Love
Wins Again. Magness’ seventeenth
release Back For Me shows she is still as innovative and fierce as ever. Produced by her longtime friend and
collaborator Dave Darling, this record teams the blues icon with an amazing
short list of guests comprised of Joe Bonamassa, Sue Foley, and Jesse
Dayton. With a mission to shine a
light on the B-sides of a few of the heavy-hitter songwriters such as Bill
Withers, Ray LaMontagne, Allen Toussaint, Doyle Bramhall
II, Tracy Nelson, and Irma Thomas, Magness creates a
fabulous listening experience. Backing her in the studio for this release is Darling
on guitar, Ian Walker on bass, and W.F. Quinn Smith on drums.
“Masterpiece”, featuring Bonamassa on guitar and accompanied by Sasha Smith on B3, welcomes the listener with an infectious walking blues rhythm and smoking-hot guitar licks. Her cover of Bramhall’s “November” from the 2016 album Rich Man, is beautifully performed and expertly approached in such a way which leaves me in a melancholy state. I love the infusion of the Latin beat and Santana-like guitar from John Schroeder. It’s great to hear Sue Foley guesting on blues-rocker “Holes”. Magness sings this with a fearless delivery as Foley mesmerizes me with an amazing performance. A jazz-fueled bassline, and side of masterful percussion instill a brilliant cadence for “You Can Bring Me Flowers”. It’s a splendid slice of beat-poetry put to music with Robert ‘Chalo’ Ortiz on guitar. Smith pours a little barrel-house over Allen Toussaint’s “Hittin’ On Nothing’”. This selection originally sung by Irma Thomas, features guitar-slinger Jesse Dayton and brings the record to a searing end.
Back For Me is a blues album which absolutely shines in every aspect. It is sure to be an instant classic.
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WEBSITE & SOCIALS
https://www.janivamagness.com/
https://janiva-magness.bandcamp.com/music
