Go into any 12 bars in any city and you will, in all likelihood, a good number of blues singers doing it acoustic style. Most of those singers won’t capture your attention for the simple reason that they have missed the point of the blues entirely. You see, the blues is born of poverty and oppression and in those circumstances all you can have in your heart is hope and honesty.
That takes us nicely to the case of Suzie Vinnick and her album “Live At Bluesville”. I could say that there are many like her – which would be partly true – but Ms Vinnick and her acoustic guitar have got the feel just right here. Splitting the efforts between her perfectly respectable self penned songs and a straight down the line set of covers (You’ll Be Mine” and a very Claptonesque version of “Can’t Find My Way Home”), she exuded the aforementioned honesty in the kind of natural and unforced performance that is far from common these days.
“Live At Bluesville” is a straightforward album that seems on the surface to take few chances but actually takes the biggest chance of all these days. Suzie Vinnick plays it straight from the heart when so many of her competing charlatans would aim for the apparently popular approach of posturing revivalism. 12 bars later and I want to hear this album again.