Marcia Ball's music—jook-joint blues—doesn't require deep scrutiny or focused analysis, and that is a compliment. What you hear is what you get. And what you hear is always excellent. Analysis would be missing the point: the point being that Ball simply plays and sings the blues, whether rollicking or relaxed, with her heart and soul on the line, every song out. She can be unfettered, even unhinged, but always soulful, always true to her game, which is to make you jump and shout and feel. Feel something; Isn't that the Blues?
Her first studio release in five years, Peace, Love & BBQ (Alligator Records) is blues anarchy—the opening track, "Party Town," for example; but also blues lament, as in, among others, "Where Do You Go?" Which is to say Peace, Love & BBQ represents Marcia Ball's versatility as well as anything she has ever released. That includes Hot Tamale Baby and Let Me Play with Your Poodle, two Marcia Ball essentials.
Marcia Ball needs no support, of course, but how canny to invite certain friends to join in: Dr. John (on the superb "I'll Never Be Free"), Terrance Simien (truly an artist in need of an audience), and another blues queen, Tracy Nelson. Throw in rambunctious horn arrangements, pedal steel when you need it, accordion obviously, and you have a bluesy Cajun-like mix of holler and shout and lament that makes Marcia Ball's brand of blues timeless.
Ball either wrote or co-authored eight of the thirteen songs here. She is all over this album, especially regarding her song writing, in a way that she has not been in the last few outings. Those, sadly, have been sparse: only five discs in the last 10 years, and one of those a live recording (Live! Down the Road), also on Alligator.
Given that analysis is useless, check out her song selection and ordering. "Party Town" kicks off Peace, Love & BBQ in grand trumpet-heavy style: "Just when you think the party's over/Another one has begun…New Orleans is a party town." Indeed.
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