Fiona Boyes: Howlin' at Your Door

An aptly named artist! If there were ever a lady blues singer/guitarist ready to mix it up with the boys, it is this amazing gal from Australia. Hard to say which is more raw: her vocals or her electric guitar work. But put them together, and Boyes will prove that the raw can also cook. So much for Claude Lévi-Strauss and his binary oppositions! Boyes brings in a number of well-known guest artists elsewhere on this CD (Pinetop Perkins, Marcia Ball, Watermelon Slim), but this track is just a pared-down trio. They really project their sound, however, despite their modest headcount, and remind me of Cream, Clapton's turbocharged electric blues-rock band from the 1960s. Boyes has been recording since the early 1990s and has picked up more than a few awards and accolades along the way, but she proves here what I've always suspected . . . that the great blues artists just get better with age.