JANIVA MAGNESS
Bury Him at the Crossroads (Northern Blues)
Reviewed by Eric Steiner

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W.C. Handy nominee Janiva Magness' debut CD on Northern Blues, Bury Him at the Crossroads, is a blues treasure from start to finish. She's up for a 2005 WC Handy Award from the Blues Foundation in the Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the Year Category, and while she has very stiff competition from the likes of EG Kight, Deborah Coleman, Shemekia Copeland and Marcia Ball, I hope Blues Foundation members (and voters for this award) give this CD a second listen. Co-producer Colin Linden sits in on guitar, and long-time collaborator Jeff Turmes plays bass, sax and banjo, while Stephen Hodges is behind the drum kit. Rounding out Janiva's studio band is Richard Bell, who is a piano and Hammond B-3 genius. I return to the slow and simmering blues of the title cut, but "Ain't Lost Nothin'" and "Eat the Lunch You Brought" get me up out of my easy chair, thank you very much. Bury Him at the Crossroads is a fine blues record that showcases the exceptional pipes of one of the finest blueswomen to pick up a microphone.

Track List:

A Woman Knows * The Whale Has Swallowed Me * Everything Gonna Be Alright * Lost and Lookin' * Wasn't That Enough * The Soul of a Man * That's No Way to Get Along * Bury Him at the Crossroads * One More Heartache * I'm Leaving You * Less and Less of You * Ain't Lost Nothing * Eat the Lunch You Brought

© 2005 - Eric Steiner