If you’re in the market for some gritty blues-weathered jazz, chances are very likely that you have heard of Ana Popovic before. The Serbian beauty has been in demand to perform at summer jazz festivals around the world since the release of her 2007 record, Still Making History, produced by David Z. and Grammy Award winner John Porter. Riding on the momentum that she created with Still Making History, Popovic has released her second effort from Eclecto Groove Records entitled Blind For Love. This time around Popovic has produced the recording with Mark Dearnley (AC/DC, Tom Petty, Paul McCartney), and the outcome leaves fans feeling genuinely satisfied.

Accompanied by bassist Ronald Jonker, drummer Andrew Thomas, keyboardist Mike Finnigan, percussionists Tony Braunagel and Lenny Castro, trumpeter Darrell Leonard, saxophonist Joe Sublett, and background vocalists Julie Delgado, Kenna Ramsey and Billy Valentino, Popovic seems to right at home moving through big productions with the ease of a trapeze artist. In her coffers, she stashes a multi-faceted trove of rock, jazz, blues, soul, and simmering Americana that recalls of Johnny Cash’s homespun roasts. As the Rachmaninoff of the blues world, Popovic blazes a trail that is entirely of her own making.

Her guitar playing reinforces the slogan, “Girls Rock” augmented by vocals that show the moxie of Joss Stone and the dreamy melodic versing of Alana Davis. Popovic’s music feels authentic with an inspirational-bent that summons pleasing sensations permeating every chakra in the body with a radiance liken to Duffy. The first single “Nothing Personal” has a sultry vibe that is palpable, followed by a river of funky grooves that motor “Wrong Woman” with invigorating, satiny growls in Popovic’s vocals and an electrifying guitar solo played by her. The country twang in her guitar chords through “Steal Me Away” administer a toe-tapping idling that is reminiscent of Marc Broussard’s porch-folk, and catchy stomps that show a fervor which Popovic sustains throughout the album.

She settles onto a mooring of glossy riffs in the title track as Popovic adjusts the temperature of her vocals to the dreamy, moonlight pitch of the instrumentation, and maintains this sedate drifting with Spanish guitar flares serenading her in “More Real.” Popovic straddles the line between fantasy and reality in her songs infusing a gospel-pumping in the chorus parts and handclapping beats in “Putting Out The APB,” compounded by the bluesy shavings of bubbly horns and charismatic vocals that glove the ducts of “Get Back Home To You.” The casual stride of Popovic’s vocals in “The Only Reason” shows sheer confidence and an easy-going mannerism that is contagious.

Popovic has an amazing knack for inviting audiences into her cubits of music, and for never making them feel intimidated. The soft-pop coloring of “Part Of Me” puts a cheerful swig in the rolling rhythms, and the funky beats of “Lives That Don’t Exist” filament a bronco-throttle in her vocals as her guitar slings twist and amplify the rhythmic pivots. The funky soul-tint in Popovic’s vocals is prominent in “Need Your Love” and “Blues For M” as her larynx caresses the lyrics with the solid grip of a vise and the gentle rubbing of rose petals being brushed against the skin,

Popovic scratches every itch that blues fans have, using the right amount of pressure and tenderizing strokes. Blind For Love will please Popovic’s fans base in addition to appealing to new fans, and not necessarily those who favor a blues-jazz touch. Popovic is paving a new road in blues that is sure to entice other riders to take it for a spin.