Deborah Coleman: Where Blues Begins

An up-and-comer on the contemporary blues scene, Deborah Coleman blends sultry vocals and stinging lead guitar work on Where Blue Begins (Blind Pig 5048; 42:01), a followup to last year’s strong debut, I Can’t Lose. The heat she generates on the driving shuffle “Travelin’ South” will definitely register with blues fans. And she shows a range of versatility in being able to convincingly cover everything from a Louis Jordan jump blues (“They Raided the Joint”) to confessional minor key laments like “Hain’t It Funny” and “The Dream” to swaggering bar band rockers like “Walk That Walk.” Labelmate Joanna Connor guests on slide guitar on the haunting closer “Nobody To Blame.”

Originally Published January 1, 1999