Joan Osborne. The best female rock vocalist since Janis? I'm convinced. Just listen to the album Relish. And it doesn't stop there because the title track from Righteous Love is Joan again at her vocal best form. Most recently her covers album How Sweet It Is has beautiful versions of some old songs, including War and Bold As Love.
If you want to learn how to play a blues turnaround lick, listen to this guy. Robert Johnson is the King of the Delta Blues Singers. Go listen to his collection of the same name: http://www.sonymusicstore.com/store/c/Robert-Johnson/LT_talent=5729/ It's hard to imagine where music would be without this guy, such was his talent. In case you didn't know, it has been alleged that this talent was obtained via the occult. Would I sell my soul to be this good? Hmmm, I'm quite happy with my mediocrity for now.
"All I Wanna Do...is Soak Up The Sun"
Sheryl Crow. Rocks out on her
guitars, rides bicycles, rides motorbikes and has been seen to shake
off Nascar drivers in videos. Cooler than cool? Seeing her live at the
Shepherds Bush Empire -
I Shall Believe!
Steve McQueen, the opener, was rockin'. If It Makes You Happy was
life-changingly good. Soak Up the Sun has the best opening line ever
(ha ha) and it ended with a cover of the mighty Zep's Rock'n'Roll.
Rock'n'Roll!
Under the spell
"Kate" is just great. That's KT Tunstall. Came on to the scene with her lively performances, warm voice and use of her looping pedal, which she lovingly refers to as "wee bastard pedal" (Scottish you see). For the technical, that's the Akai E2 Headrush. Her performance at the gig she did at Shepherds Bush Empire really did open the eyes to the ludicrous amounts of talent. Does a mean bit on the drums to boot. The new album Drastic Fantastic is the bomb, check out If Only and Someday Soon.
They've got a flair
Fountains Of Wayne. Named after a garden ornament store in New Jersey, I've heard of the band for a while but was never that familiar with their work until recently. I got into them after listening to their 2003 album Welcome Interstate Managers. At first I didn't think it was all that, but now I can't imagine life without it! It's a monster of an album and a lesson in great songwriting. They're almost like the patron saints of office workers as well, if you know songs like Hey Julie and Sick Day. The recent follow up, Traffic & Weather, was the album of the summer, again with great songs in a range of styles. When I saw them live it was so much fun.
