Frenchie Moe - Soul Full Tonight

Bitrate: 320K/s
Year: 2023
Time: 37:54 
Size: 87,1 MB 
Label: 3440193 Records DK
Styles: Blues
Art: Front 

Tracks Listing:
 1. Fight You Like A Man - 4:42
 2. Backup Plan (feat. Bruce Sunpie Barnes) - 4:39
 3. Girlfriend - 3:58
 4. Crawfish Heads - 4:41
 5. Furry Slippers - 3:06
 6. Slow Down - 4:59
 7. I'm Into Something - 4:18
 8. Gator Bags A Beaver - 3:26
 9. Invisible Man - 4:02

Frenchie Moe came to the States from her native France in 2011 and eventually settled in New Orleans where this album was recorded. Along the way Frenchie has been mentored by several notable bluesmen, including Victor Brox in the UK, Creighton Holley and Walter ‘Wolfman’ Washington. On this disc Frenchie handles vocals and guitar, with Bruce Elsensohn on keys, Andres Villafarra or Adam Crochet on bass and Keith Hawkins or Ian Petillo on drums; Sunpie Barnes guests on accordion and vocal on one track. Frenchie produced the album with studio engineer Lewis D’Aubin. The material is all covers drawn from a wide range of artists, plus one original. Frenchie’s voice is forceful but quite high-pitched and her distinctive style takes a little getting used to; as a guitarist she avoids excess in her solos and keeps the rhythm going well on an album which is definitely on the funky side of things. Larry Williams’ “Slow Down” is transformed from Rn’R into mid-paced funk with Frenchie’s jagged guitar work set over the popping rhythm section. Two tracks are re-titled from their originals: Muddy Waters recorded “She’s Into Something” (Carl Wright) in 1959 and Frenchie calls it “I’m Into Something”, probably the closest to a straight blues here with fine piano and guitar; perhaps Frenchie thought “Crawfish Heads” was a better fit for Louisiana than Bobby Rush’s original “Chicken Heads”! Frenchie also heads to Chicago for “Fight You Like A Man” (Morris Dollison), originally recorded by Koko Taylor on her 1985 Alligator release Queen Of The Blues, and Zora Young’s “Girlfriend”. Elsewhere Sunpie Barnes joins Frenchie for an impressive duet on Tommy Castro and Rick Estrin’s “Backup Plan” and the funk continues with Serabee’s “Invisible Man”. The sole original is the strange title “Gator Bags A Beaver” which has some solid guitar work and buzzes along over the funky rhythm though the meaning of the lyrics evaded this reviewer. “Furry Slippers” comes from jazz organist Tony Monaco and is placed as a mid-album instrumental, swinging along with Bruce’s organ weaving patterns over Frenchie’s rhythm guitar.If you enjoy the funky rhythms of New Orleans you may want to check out Frenchie Moe and her bandmates on this album. 

Soul Full Tonight