Missy Andersen's Soulful Debut!

I had not heard of Missy Andersen, a San Diego based vocalist before I received her impressive eponymously entitled release on Main Squeeze Records. Born in Detroit, raised in Queens, she has had a varied career (even a rap single) before coming under the tutelage of Earl Thomas. The present album shows up as blues on my Itunes, but it as centered as much on deep southern soul. It was recorded in Copenhagen with her husband Heine on guitar and a strong band that plays strongly in the classic Memphis Stax-Hi records vein. They may not be the reincarnation of the Hi Rhythm Section but they acquit themselves well as do the horns added to 4 of the seven selections.

There is a mix of some classic soul and blues including the opening rendition of the O.V. Wright classic “Ace of Spades,” Ann Pebbles “I Can’t Stand the Rain,” Etta James’ hit, “Tell Mama,” Junior Wells’ “Little By Little,” and Don Nix’s “Same Old Blues,” along with the original by Missy and the band, “New Feet,” a strutting soulful blues. The covers are musically not that far removed from the original recordings, but Missy does sing them with conviction and an unforced, full-throated, and soulful manner. The last number, “Stand Up and Dance,” has her strutting her stuff over an acoustic accompaniment with Nathan James on Dobro slide guitar. A complaint is that with 8 tunes, and just over a half hour of music, this is a short CD, but there is no filler here. It will be interesting to see how she follows this up, but she is someone I would love to see perform as she is one of the better soul-blues singers to come to my attention recently. Her website is http://www.missyandersen.com/ and this is available on cdbaby.com.