The pandemic years unleashed waves of musical discovery for many artists, and a look back at past work; and in some cases, material that an artist long wanted to record but did not. The latter is the case for acoustic blues singer and guitarist Rory Block. Through her terrific Mentor Series, six tribute recordings dedicated entirely to the rediscovered blues masters she met in person as a teenager – Son House, Rev. Gary Davis, Mississippi John Hurt, Skip James, Bukka White, and Mississippi Fred McDowell; it was fascinating to hear the songs she unearthed and hear them sung by a woman. She followed suit with her first two “Power Women of the Blues,” in tribute to pioneering blues women. The third, Ain’t Nobody Worried, is a sharp detour.
We might expect to see covers of Koko Taylor (“Cried Like a Baby”), Etta James (‘I’d Rather Go Blind”), and the folk chestnut from Elizabeth Cotton “Freight Train.” Given her close relationship with Bonnie Raitt, “Love Has No Pride,” is likely fair game as well. Yet, the thrust of the album is the huge radio hits of the ‘60s through the ‘80s with a huge dose of Motown. The unexpected surge of popular material apparently traces to her Home Broadcasts during the pandemic when she had exhausted her repertoire of old-time blues and folk songs, later strengthened by viewer requests of their own favorites. Block claims to have never learned these songs properly but had always wanted to sing them, thus presenting her with a new challenge.
The results however are mixed. On the positive side, these familiar songs attest to what a great voice Rory Block has. She does sound as great singing these hits as she does on the vintage material. Also, she is the lone artist, layering her vocals for the backgrounds, and using her foot, guitar, and primitive percussion to create the rhythms without the support of a band. Her lone original, “Lovin’ Whiskey” sits among these ten covers and is every bit as strong as most of these songs. Hearing Raitt’s “Love Has No Pride” and Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” are nice touches too.
On the other hand, many of these songs are just so familiar, that it begs the question of why cover them. It seems especially out of context (and maybe that’s the curve ball idea) for a musicologist of Block’s ilk. Maybe if she had turned more towards the Stax or the New Orleans artists, it would seem to fit better. She does cover The Staples Singers with “I’ll Take You There” and Etta James’s Muscle Shoals “I’d Rather Go Blind” but Gladys Knight and The Pips (“Midnight Train to Georgia’), Mary Wells (“My Guy’), Martha and the Vandellas (“Dancing in the Streets”) lend to essentially just faithful interpretations. Carole King’s “You’ve Got a Friend,” no matter the rendition, is still vanilla.
So, while the album will have you singing along, basking in a bit of nostalgia as Block renders them well, let’s hope that Block goes more retro next time. Her mission has been to pay tribute to the originators. She still has plenty of material to cover in that regard.
