Ana Popovic claims that her Fender Stratocaster literally saved her life. Stricken with breast cancer the singer/songwriter/guitarist contemplated giving up her career but through the insistence of her bassist and musical director Buthel Burns, she persevered and after multiple chemotherapy treatments, she returned to recording and presumably touring again. Popovic references a new sound but in fact, Power just exemplifies what she’s done throughout her career – searing blues rock, a bit of gospel and R&B, and some jazzy licks to boot. Her guitar skills are second to none, her voice has grown more soulful through the years, and her songwriting remains an unevenly mixed bag, singing mostly about unity (as per the black and white handshake on the cover), love, sex, and living life joyously. To her credit, the emphasis here is on the songs more so than her blistering shredding.
Popovic and Buthel penned ten of the eleven songs. Popovic hired in-demand drummer Chris Coleman (Beck, Stevie Wonder, Chaka Khan, Babyface) and selected musicians from Dallas, New Orleans, and Detroit. Background vocals figure prominently in many of these tracks. Together with Buthel she produced the record and had it mixed and mastered by Jeremy Bishop Hicks, a Grammy Award & Dove Award-winning rising star with deep roots in Gospel. Although she favors the Fender Strat, Popovic also plays a track Gibson Les Paul and another with D’Angelico jazz guitar. The album was recorded over at least three sessions so there are more musicians than just her core six-piece band. Horns imbue five tracks, and the Detroit background vocals team of Tasha Parker and Noel Burns appear on four. Drummer Jerry Kelley is behind the kit on two and sings backgrounds on eight.
The opener, “Rise Up!,” the only non-Popovic/Buthel song was written by Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Tia Sillers, and Mark Selby. The anthemic song, with a rocking blues/gospel groove, addresses the album’s main theme – unity. “Power Over Me” is a fairly bland European rock track, replete with horns and background vocals while “Doin This” reveals her funky side, powered by Coleman’s drums and the Detroit background voices. She and the band dial down for the ballad “Luv” N Touch,” with the backgrounds framing her own impassioned lead vocal. Her guitar playing here is restrained, and spot on, in service to the song. “Queen of the Pack” references the nickname her band bestowed on her, “Boss Lady,” or, said another one, a female bandleader in a male-dominated genre. Popovic embraces her leadership role, with lyrics all relating to team building with her blues-rock guitar more prominent here and on the blues rocker “Strong Taste,” infused with doo-wop vocals. And, while we have your attention, can the rest of my fellow writers stop saying “one of the best female guitarists” and simply state that she is a premiere or top blues-rock guitarist? The ‘female’ is totally unnecessary and smacks of misogynism.
Popovic shows her jazzy side with “Recipe Is Romance,” with the D’Angelico jazz guitar framed by a nice horn arrangement and tasty backgrounds. “Deep Down,” her ‘stalker song,’ plies similar turf as “Doin’ This” and “Ride It” is another anthemic, horn-driven blues rocker (“We’re gonna ride it til the wheels fall off”). She nods to Hendrix in the bridge to the wah-wah-infused rocker “Flicker N Flame,” singing with the most intensity of any track about a passionate but doomed relationship. This is the prototypical Popovic tune, a blues rocker’s delight, and a blues purists’ nightmare. The hand clapped closer, “Turn My Luck,” like so many of these, seems designed for singalong live performances. It’s catchy, and repetitive, but not necessarily memorable.
Popovic takes a step in the right direction with this enthusiastic and tenacious recovery effort. She sublimates her signature shredding, putting more emphasis on the groove-oriented songs, many suited to live performance.
