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Latest Review of BAD PROSPECTS:
Featured Blues Review (1 of 5)
Miss
Blues - Bad Prospects
Skinner Audio
9 songs; 39:05 minutes; Library Quality
Styles: Straight Blues, Female vocal
Imagine discovering Muddy Waters. Actually, at some point, we all did. That is how I feel about being introduced to Dorothy Ellis, known as “Miss Blues.” She is currently well known regionally in Oklahoma as a singer, songwriter, and author, but right from the first listen to her third CD, it is clear that here is an artist with depth and special talent. The first time you heard Muddy Waters, didn’t you just feel it and know it? Same here!
The album liner notes provide no bio information, but her websites reveal that Miss Blues had been performing for around 60 years before she released her first recording. Liner notes are also usually full of hyperbole to be taken with a grain of salt. Not this time, take this as the gospel truth: “Miss Blues is a traditional blues artist you must get to know.” For purists, here is a gold mine of a find! By the way, she was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 2004.The liner notes continue, “She is rapidly becoming known by blues [fans] the world over, and for good reason. She is the real deal all the way to the bottom of her soul. Her vocals are spellbinding, and with her heart-wrenching delivery of each song, she paints a tapestry that takes the listener on a journey through the pain and suffering that has been the first-hand story of her life.” From a Carl Gustafson interview, Ellis is quoted, “I developed a primal scream crying out for, and to, all my sisters, who sometimes suffer in silence with no-good men folk….”The album, with nine songs of which seven are written by Miss Blues, is further made a winning standout release by her crack band, The Blue Notes. Robb Hibbard deftly plays most lead guitar, Chris Henson plays some rhythm guitar and lead on the great, jazzy instrumental track he wrote, “Midnight Cry.” Don Skinner co-produced, wrote and sings “It’s Gonna Rain,” and plays bass on all tracks. Joe Skinner is the other co-producer who also drums on several cuts, trading off with Mike Hardwick. Mark Lyon – rhythm guitar, Ron Harmon along with T.Z. Wright - keyboards, Robert Riggs - harmonica, Frank Zona – Saxophone, and Jim Johnson – rhythm guitar on one track – round out the studio crew.
“Blood Running Cold” opens the set with an instantly likeable full band sound. Then, the voice seals the deal! “...she gives you something you actually need, an honest voice in a distorted world.... expressing the pain and feeling of those who suffered,” writes Gustafson. In this song about a relationship going wrong, you realize, visualize and actualize that this woman has lived the blues.
“Billie’s Blues” comes next, a slow, moody blues with Robb Hibbard showcasing his fret board talents. Similarly, track three, the title track, is a slow number about poverty and struggle.
“Rub Board Boogie” with Miss Blues as a rub board expert has Joe Skinner on the accompanying organ instrumental. Too bad it is only one minute and forty nine seconds long.
Love turns to hate in another Ellis original “Trapped (in a bad situation).” This may be the best cut, but it is really hard to like one more than the others – that is how good this CD is!
“Bad Prospects” is a title that reflects the mood of the lyrics, but “Abnormally Great Prospects” would be the apropos phrase for chances of finding a real, deep-blues CD! Simply, do not miss this one!
Reviewer James “Skyy Dobro” Walker is a noted Blues writer, DJ and Blues Blast contributor. His weekly radio show “Friends of the Blues” can be heard each Thursday from 4:30 – 6:00pm on WKCC 91.1 FM in Kankakee, IL
For other reviews and interviews on our website CLICK HERE.
I’m a
huge fan of Dorothy Ellis – aka Miss Blues –
songwriter, singer and author, and this album,
Bad Prospects, is, to my mind, her best yet.
Miss Blues had been gigging for somewhere in the
region of 60 years before she released her first
recording, and it’s just a pity that she waited so
long – why didn’t she start recording 40 or 50 years
ago??
This latest CD, Bad Prospects, comprises nine tracks in total, seven of which are written by Miss Blues – one of the others is written by Chris Henson, who plays guitar on the track, and the other by Don Skinner, who contributes the bass playing and some of the vocals. Henson and Skinner also appear on most of the other tracks on guitar and bass. All of the musicians featured here are top class. As well as Henson and Skinner the others are worthy of mention too – Rob Hibbard, Mark Lyon, Ron Harmon, Joe Skinner, Mike Hardwick, T.Z. Wright, Robert Riggs, Frank Zona and Jim Johnson.
The album opens with the Miss Blues original, “Blood Running Cold,” a song about a relationship going wrong (as in most of the best blues songs down through the years) – the song is full of expression and emotion, and if you didn’t know before, then you know now that this woman has lived the blues. “Billie’s Blues” follows up --- a slow, moody, atmospheric, number so representative of this woman’s talents.
Track three is the title track of the album, a number about poverty and the struggle to stay afloat in life, and then the tempo picks up with track four, “Rub Board Boogie” – and I have to say that Miss Blues is a rub board maestro! Joe Skinner comes to the fore on the organ here and I really wish that the track was far longer than it’s one minute and forty nine seconds.
“Trapped” is the fifth Dorothy Ellis penned track – and it’s at least as good as the previous four, if not better. This is the blues at it’s best – not reliant on cover versions, but using the familiar themes of love and relationships as people have done since the blues started.
The only instrumental comes up next, “Midnight City”, written by Chris Henson – smoky, jazzy, bluesy and good. Saxophone from Frank Zona adds to the flavour of the piano and organ supplied by T.Z.Wright and Chris Henson’s guitar above the rhythm section of Don and Joe Skinner.
Miss Blues resurrects a couple of numbers from earlier CDs – “Sinking, Sinking, Sinking” and “Cold Mountains,” and gives both of them a slightly different feel, and Don Skinner adds “It’s Gonna Rain” where he and Dorothy share the vocals to very good effect – this track has a compulsive driving beat to it, with Ron Harmon on the organ and Chris Henson laying down some more good guitar.
Bad Prospects is one CD that every lover of the blues should have a listen to.
--- Terry Clear
Jazz in June: Norman Transcript July, 4th 2008
Photos courtesy of Rhonda Early
Miss Blues and the Blue Notes June 26th 2008 :Jazz in June 25th Anniversary. {video}
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October 2007 Feature Story in SW Blues Magazine
"I
developed my signature style of singing from an incident that happened
to my mom when I was three or four. She left my dad and moved us to
Wellington, Texas, from Paris, Texas. He found us and broke in. He had
a dirk knife and tried to kill my mother, but she grabbed the knife and
broke it. Amazing Strength! I developed a primal scream crying out for
and to all my sisters, who sometimes suffer in silence with no-good men
folk…" |