Bad Girl

January 6th, 2012

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Title: Bad Girl

Artist:  Demetria Taylor

Label:  Delmark

Formats: CD, MP3

Release date: May 17, 2011

 

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Demetria Taylor’s debut album, Bad Girl, is a tribute album: an odd move for a debut, but a move Taylor makes with good reason.  Taylor’s vocal style is heavily influenced by blues queen Koko Taylor (no relation), and she was raised listening to blues and jazz by artists like Willie Dixon, Magic Sam, and Jimmy Reed.  Most importantly, though, her father was the late Chicago bluesman Eddie Taylor, most famous for his guitar work with Jimmy Reed.  The title of Demetria Taylor’s album even references her father’s solo debut, Bad Boy (1955).

The album, then, is made up of covers, some of which work better than others.  Taylor’s vocals are most effective on some of the slower tunes: her sultry vocals on “When You Leave Don’t Take Nothing,” a tribute to Artie “Blues Boy” White, are particularly good.  The second half of the opening medley, following Koko Taylor’s “I’m A Woman,” began as blues standard “Hoochie Coochie Man,” made famous by Willie Dixon and Muddy Waters.  Taylor’s gender-bending take on it, as “Hoochie Coochie Woman,” is a cheeky comment about being a woman in the still male-dominated blues world, but her performance, while good, rings hollow.  The material dictates Taylor’s interpretation a bit, not allowing her to musically make the songs her own, aside from the changes to the lyrics.  Taylor’s cover of her father’s tune, “Bad Man,” which Taylor sings as “Bad Girl,” however, fares better.  Taylor and her rollicking band are working well together and the resulting track is infectious and fun.  Taylor and Chicago blueswoman Big Time Sarah trade vocals on a few tunes, and their back-and-forth on the Howlin’ Wolf standard “Little Red Rooster” is a hilarious, strong track.

The standout track, though, is another slower tune―Taylor’s cover of Luther Allison’s “Cherry Red Wine.”  The song about the effect of alcoholism lets Taylor stretch her vocal lines, inflecting them with anger and sadness, and her backing band moves around the edges of her vocals, making a very satisfying, interesting seven-minute track.  While this album has some hits and some misses, it is a strong debut from a woman with blues in her blood.  We can look forward to seeing how she grows on her next project, which is slated to be all original material.

 

Reviewed by David Lewis

Review Genre(s): Blues