For those of you who still have not discovered the joys of Candye Kane, you don't know what you're missing. She's a throwback to the days when women vocalists didn't compete to see who could end up starving to death first or sound the most like Minnie Mouse.
Instead of some uptight, anal retentive divas getting paid a million a week for singing songs so saccharine they would shame even Donnie and Marie, women sang songs about the bad guy who they loved no matter how bad he treated them, or they broke your heart when they sang about "strange fruit" that hung from the trees of the south.
Candye Kane is like a breath of fresh air that will blow all the twittering twigs off stage without even trying. From the first time I heard her sing on a Ruf Record compilation disc, I've eagerly awaited the arrival of another collection of her songs. White Trash Girl was a great warm-up but I had a feeling she was just hitting her stride. She was starting to experiment with her wonderful voice, using it for more than just power, and was discovering all of its nuances.
On Guitar'd And Feathered, her new release, she takes some large footsteps towards fulfilling that promise. The title is taken from the fact that on each track she is accompanied by a different guest guitar player. From Junior Watson's rollicking work on "My Country Man", Sue Foley's challenge of a solo on "When I Put The Blue On You", to Bob Brozman's gospel tinged National steel guitar on "Jesus and Mohammad" each guitar sets the table for whatever vocal feast Candy is going to provide.
It's a fine table she sets of musical styles and vocal technique. It's one thing to belt out a Blues rocker, but another thing all together to let your voice relax down into a lower register and make it ooze like molasses through a smoke filled room. "I'm Not Gonna Cry Today" is Candye accompanied by Jeff Ross on a Del Arte guitar. It takes a certain amount of courage, and an immense amount of talent to stand that alone in front of an audience, but Candye and her voice are more than up to the challenge.
While surrendering none of her potency she seems to have increased her flexibility when it comes to achieving nuances in mood and atmosphere. Listen to her on the heartfelt "We're Long Ago And Far Away" written by and featuring producer Bob Margolin on guitar and hear how her voice can caress words with a lover's touch.
Article comments
1 - chuck
I recently saw Candye Kane and her band LIVE in Dallas, and became an even bigger fan. I've enjoyed her records, but her real strength is in her stage presence. She really connects with the audience, at least she did here in Big D. Her attraction to the blues is not simply one of it being a way to make a buck, but seems much more grounded in the real tough world that she grew up in, and that the blues in that environment are more easily embraced, than outrun.