Roxanne Potvin – The Way It Feels (Ruf Records).
French-Canadian guitarist/singer/songwriter Potvin is making a bit of a name for herself in blues circles and the fact that she has attracted Grammy Award winner Colin Linden as producer for her new album speaks volumes. She opens with A Love That’s Simple, a horn-laden R&B with strong vocals. Potvin fits in well with guest vocalist, John Hiatt, and this is an easy song to listen to; a great start. I Want To (Do Everything For You) is a slow, rolling blues that allows Roxanne to show her not inconsiderable guitar skills, ably backed by Colin Linden on Dobro. There’s a contemporary Country feel to the plaintive Hurting Child and she goes back to a classic Country/R&B/Rock n Roll fusion. This is bouncy and Roxanne certainly attacks the vocal. The gentle and magical La Merveille is sung in French and she is backed by the wonderful Daniel Lanois.
While I Wait For You is contemporary Jazz/Blues and expertly executed. The guitar work remains understated and Colin Linden’s production is classy. Your Love Keeps Working On Me is gentle R&B and although she does show her class on guitar, the song is pretty standard stuff. She remains in the R&B field for Say It before delivering a heart wrenching piano ballad on Don’t Pay Attention. Sweet Thoughts Of You is barrelhouse flecked Country with some nice Dobro thrown in. Let It Feel The Way It Feels is another piano ballad but with slide guitar added this time. This could be the type of song that could make her a serious contender to the like of Bonnie Raitt. Roxanne closes off with Break Away, a high tempo version of Del Shannon’s oft covered song. However, I can’t see why she chose to include this given that she is such a good songwriter herself. This is possibly the weakest track on the album and an unfortunate way to end what is, in fact, a very good collection of songs.
http://www.roxannrpotvin.com/
http://www.rufrecords.com/
David Blue.
French-Canadian guitarist/singer/songwriter Potvin is making a bit of a name for herself in blues circles and the fact that she has attracted Grammy Award winner Colin Linden as producer for her new album speaks volumes. She opens with A Love That’s Simple, a horn-laden R&B with strong vocals. Potvin fits in well with guest vocalist, John Hiatt, and this is an easy song to listen to; a great start. I Want To (Do Everything For You) is a slow, rolling blues that allows Roxanne to show her not inconsiderable guitar skills, ably backed by Colin Linden on Dobro. There’s a contemporary Country feel to the plaintive Hurting Child and she goes back to a classic Country/R&B/Rock n Roll fusion. This is bouncy and Roxanne certainly attacks the vocal. The gentle and magical La Merveille is sung in French and she is backed by the wonderful Daniel Lanois.
While I Wait For You is contemporary Jazz/Blues and expertly executed. The guitar work remains understated and Colin Linden’s production is classy. Your Love Keeps Working On Me is gentle R&B and although she does show her class on guitar, the song is pretty standard stuff. She remains in the R&B field for Say It before delivering a heart wrenching piano ballad on Don’t Pay Attention. Sweet Thoughts Of You is barrelhouse flecked Country with some nice Dobro thrown in. Let It Feel The Way It Feels is another piano ballad but with slide guitar added this time. This could be the type of song that could make her a serious contender to the like of Bonnie Raitt. Roxanne closes off with Break Away, a high tempo version of Del Shannon’s oft covered song. However, I can’t see why she chose to include this given that she is such a good songwriter herself. This is possibly the weakest track on the album and an unfortunate way to end what is, in fact, a very good collection of songs.
http://www.roxannrpotvin.com/
http://www.rufrecords.com/
David Blue.
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