Plenty of blues-infused southern rock and traditional country flavours this debut release from Calgary-based singer-songwriter.
Having played a mix of blues roots music around her native Canada for many years Erin Ross has finally released her debut album “The Wind Will Lead Me Home”, under the production guidance of fellow Canadian and studio veteran Steve Dawson. Recorded at the Hen House Studios in Nashville, the nine tracks that make up the album are infused with a strong dose of blues-based southern rock, with a splash of traditional country, all supplied by a crack team of musicians that includes David Jacques on bass, Jen Gunderman on keys, multi-instrumentalists Fats Kaplin, and percussionist Justin Amaral, while Dawson excels on guitar duty. Ross is an excellent singer, suited by this musical arrangement, which places her vocal delivery somewhere between Bonnie Raitt, without the same level of sweetness, and Lucinda Williams, minus the snap and snarl.
The album opens with ‘Southern Song’, a staccato mandolin underpinning a blues guitar riff all driven along by a lazy rhythm section that conjures up the image of summers in Nashville, you can almost feel the heat, though Ross’ continued pronunciation of the song’s title, one presumes intentionally, does grate after a while. ‘Grease and Gasoline’, follows with an increase in tempo, the vocals here delivered with more attitude, and the addition of the fiddle creates some wonderful colour and tension, while ‘Telling Lies’ has that swampy behind-the-beat groove associated with such icons as J.J. Cale and Tony Joe White. ‘Whiskey and Woodsmoke’, slows proceedings down with plenty of slide guitar, and mandolin that offers up faint echoes of The Allman Brothers with its elongated instrumental passage, a trait found throughout the album, helping to produce an early seventies vibe.
The strong start to the album wanes a little during the second half though the fiddle playing on ‘Clear Lake Waltz’, helps deliver a sense of authentic fifties country music with the ghost of Hank Williams inhabiting Ross’ soulful narrative, while the addition of the accordion on ‘Stoke That Fire’, adds a taste of cajun to a song that sways and swaggers reminiscent of Ronnie Lane during his Slim Chance days. Elsewhere the rather formulated blues rock of ‘Stay With Me’, benefits greatly from some delicious Hammond Organ playing from Gunderman.
There may be only nine tracks on “The Wind Will Lead Me Home”, but it still clocks in at a healthy 37 minutes, and though Ross’ thoroughly enjoyable vocals do sit front a centre, this albums is as much about the musicians and the arrangement as it is about the singer. The playing is top drawer, as is the production, so even when the material doesn’t quite reach the mark, the quality of musicianship holds everything together. That said, there are still plenty of good songs on show here to be of interest to anyone who enjoys a rootsy mix of southern blues rock, with Ross’ strong vocal delivery sitting comfortably alongside the great pantheon of female blues singers, both past and present.
