There aren’t a lot of female acoustic blues artists around, so this album by Ruth Wyand is a breath of fresh air. She has a Rory Block feel to her playing, but as an added plus she even plays foot drums while singing and playing a wide variety of guitars. Her voice is earnest, earthy and rural relaxed on this mix of originals and a couple of covers.
Of the latter, she is cozy and fun on “One Mint Julep” while picking notes of indigo’d crystal on Jimi Hendrix’s “Little Wing” and grinning on Bob Dylan’s “Blind Willie McTell.” Her slide work can either boogie on the jumping “100 Proof” and get down and lonesome for “Better Off Alone.” Her strings cry as they bend on the electric guitar for “I Don’t Have Proof” and the whine on the acoustic “Till It’s Safe To Go Outside,” all the while spinning stories with the relaxed cadence of the village minstrel. Her sole instrumental, the closing “On The Porch With Etta,” makes you beg for an entire album of informal and back porch slides and picks. Any West Coast tours on the horizon?