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‘Til The River No Longer Flows’ has a distinct 1970’s vibe about it bordering on Lynyrd Skynyrd
territory. There is almost a Doo-Wop feel to ‘Mississippi’ before the album closes with just some
dissonant piano and vocal on ‘Here To Stay’.

Whilst everything about this album in terms of instrumentation, lyrics and song production is ok
it just doesn’t quite work for me. I would label this album as being more Country/Americana
than Blues. The vocals are not quite convincing and as such don’t quite carry the well worked

lyrics. To me his deep gruff raspy vocal style doesn’t have that deep richness of say a Johnny Cash
or indeed the pushing of the boundaries style of Tom Waits but don’t let me put you off, please
give it a spin.

Ged Wilson

Alice Di Micele—Interpretations Vol 1—Alice Otter Music

Alice Di Micele is a singer/songwriter/guitarist originally from
New Jersey but now based in Oregon and this is her seventeenth
album no less that pays homage to songs and writers that have
inspired her over the years.

The album opens with the Neil Young classic ‘Old Man’ followed
by ‘Give Yourself To Love’ which has a beautiful acoustic guitar
and vocal arrangement. Alice digs into some good old blues on the
Reverend Gary Davis number ‘Death Don’t Have No Mercy’ which
features some nice organ sounds behind the guitar solos. ‘Over My Head’ features some nice

pedal steel guitar whilst Tom Petty’s ‘Square One’ gets more of a gentle touch.

‘Throw It Away’ has a great jazzy blues vibe featuring some great jazz guitar work from Mimi Fox
and there are some more bluesy vibes to be had with Grateful Dead’s ‘Sugaree’. Next up is a great
arrangement of ‘The Hounds Of Winter’ featuring some tasty bass playing which I suppose you
would expect on a tune by Sting. The album closes bookended by Neil Young songs, with ‘Harvest
Moon’.

Despite this album being all cover songs Alice makes them all her own. The arrangements are
well thought out and keep the listener interested. Alice has a fantastic voice with a great vocal
range. At times she reminded me of Susanne Vega and at others Bonnie Raitt. There are some
good blues tunes here but I’m sure our blues listeners will also appreciate the other tunes too, I
really enjoyed listening to this album so I suggest you give it a spin.

Ged Wilson