[2012-06-05]
Marva Wright: "After The Levees Broke"

"Down in Louisiana, Marva Wright was called the Blues Queen. Fans of her energy-filled performances, both live and recorded, called her a lot of other things, too, like "Marvalous Marva." The "bluesiana" numbers she favored were a strong showcase for her dynamic, gospel-rooted voice."

"Her 2007 effort, After the Levees Broke, addressed the devastation of Hurricane Katrina -- which destroyed her house and all her belongings -- by repurposing songs like Willie Nelson's "Crazy," Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come," and Bruce Hornsby's "The Way It Is."
~ www.allmusic.com


Gregg Allman: "Searching For Simplicity"
"In his initial solo recordings, Gregg Allman tried for a more eclectic pop approach than the Southern blues-rock of his day job with the Allman Brothers Band. His later solo work, done during breaks in the Brothers' career, was much closer to the traditional ABB sound. On his first solo album since the Allmans' reformation in 1989, he again makes what is essentially an Allman Brothers Band record without the other members, except new guitarist Jack Pearson, whose Duane Allman/Dickey Betts-style slide work is all over the disc. Allman signals the same-but-different approach by opening the album with an "unplugged" version of the Allmans' signature song, "Whipping Post," and though he adds horns to some tracks for a more R&B feel, the rest of the album finds him growling through standard-issue blues-rock, some of the songs originals, some covers, among them an excellent version of "Dark End of the Street" and an arrangement of John Hiatt's "Memphis in the Meantime" that makes it sound like a Betts country-rocker. "
~ www.allmusic.com