Page 51 - BiTS_12_DECEMBER_2023

was the 50s-style backing vocals which added a touch of period authenticity - but

of the staid white cover records of the time. I can see that if you came to Van via
his ‘Astral Weeks’-style music this record may seem a bit routine and conventional
but if like me you remember him from his 60s R&B group Them it all makes a lot

more sense.

Graham Harrison

Candice Ivory—When The Levee Breaks: The Music
of Memphis Minnie—Little Village

Memphis Minnie was one of the great early blues
singer/guitarists and it’s about time that she got the
adoration that has previously been given to her male

counterparts like Robert Johnson, Big Bill Broonzy, Mis-
sissippi John Hurt etc. This ‘tribute’ album by Memphis-
born Candice Ivory ‘Queen of Avant Soul’ and Charlie

Hunter (guitar/bass) seeks to pay homage to Minnie
without slavishly copying her songs and her style. They

employ an unusual band comprising 3 percussionists - Atiba Rorie, Brevan Hamp-
den and George Sluppick, plus DaShawn Hickman (pedal steel). This gives opener,
Minnie’s most famous song, ‘Me and My Chauffeur’ a very fresh and unique sound
with its prominent percussion and melodic pedal steel, the same sounds are also

deployed on another Minnie banger ‘When the Levee Breaks’.

‘You Can’t Rule Me’ carries on in similar fashion with wonderful plaintive pedal
steel but the prominent percussion was beginning to grate on me, luckily ‘When

You Love Me’ is a beautiful acoustic number with just Candice and Charlie on
guitar. ‘Blues Everywhere’ also starts acoustically with the percussion joining in

later in a more restrained fashion and ‘Crazy Crying Blues’ is a slow blues with
both percussion and pedal steel. The rest of the album’s tracks also feature the
percussion way up front in the mix and I’m afraid that I found it just too distracting
and it made the tracks sound very similar, even thought they were often very

different – I guess that this is similar to the way that rhythm tracks are done in rap
and hip-hop. When the percussion was used more subtly as on ‘Hole in the Wall’ I

found it much better and ‘HooDoo Lady’ also featured Charlie’s acoustic guitar but
again this was drowned out by the insistent percussion. In the end I can’t say that
I was personally too keen on this album, although I have to admire the way that

they have updated Minnie’s sound and made it more relevant to a modern audience.

Graham Harrison