One of the things I enjoy, which I've completely missed, is finding great artists whose credo is to find great artists.
Karen Lawrence has been around since the 70's. She is credited with lead vocals and songwriting on Jeff Beck's album Beckology, and wrote the song “Prisoner” for the film The Eyes of Laura Mars, which was later recorded by Barbra Streisand and written by Joe Beck. -It became part of Bonamassa's set list. Her Rock Her group toured with Aerosmith, Ted She Nugent, Cheap Her Trick, AC/DC, and more.
So, after listening to this album, there is no doubt that he is a rare and wonderful talent.
Music varies. Blues/Rock, Blues/Soul, Roots and Blues are on display here, all written by Mr. Lawrence himself.
Her main band is Dan Potorucci on drums, Ron Battle on bass, Celso Salim on guitar, Tony Saracine on rhythm guitar, and Max Butler on organ.
They're all extremely talented and experienced, but it takes a great vocalist to spark them, and Karen Lawrence is that spark.
The album begins with “Die Blue.” From the intro, it was easy to imagine that Eagles' voice would come next, but instead we get this wonderfully emotional and crackling soul vocal. “Easy” follows, slow and intense, with heartfelt vocals once again.
One of the things I really like about this album is that all the tracks are so different from each other, yet linked together by these amazing vocals.
Other tracks stand out for different reasons. “Heaven's Masterpiece'' has a great gypsy guitar solo, “I'm Coming Home'' is straight-up raunchy barroom blues, and the title track has a great groove and swing feel.
Now that it's that bad, I have to check out her back catalogue.