Sandy Carroll's Asks To Be Taken "Just As I Am"

Memphis based pianist, singer and songwriter Sandy Carroll has a new Catfood Records CD, Just As I Am, that is an intelligently produced album that blends soul, rock and blues for a nice musical stew that ranges from ballads, blues/rock and gospel, to New Orleans styles and country.  She says, “Just As I Am is a project Jim and I have been working on for a few years.  It came together when Bob Trenchard got involved and we decided to finish it and release it on Catfood Records.”

The Jim, Carroll refers to, is celebrated producer Jim Gaines, who is her husband. Gaines produced, engineered and mixed this disc. The studio band is pretty strong with guitarist Evan Leake and keyboardist Rick Steff being the only persons playing on all or almost all the selections. Sandy Carroll had a hand in all of the songs here which go to celebrating one’s fellow persons on the opening, uplifting, Blessed Be, asking for blessings for the children who hold the light, the warriors that let us sleep at night, the healers, the lame, and “blessed be the glory blessed by thy name,” to her amusing lyrics about trying to improve on her natural self in Helping Mother Nature, where she looks in the mirror and gets the botox blues as she sings “nip, tuck fill it in.”

She sings about love, yearning and whether the man she loves is her Heart Fixin’ Man, as well as the tragic young love in Romeo & Juliet, whose lyrics Bob Trenchard (who plays bass on the track) brought to her. There is more of spiritual message on Runnin’ Out of Grace, while she gives advise to men that if they want to treat their woman right, “they need to lean how to give Slow Kisses, set to a boogie piano based accompaniment. The album closes with the title track that she co-wrote with James Sjoberg and the late Luther Allison and which Allison recorded on his Reckless album for Alligator. It has been years since I last listened to Allison doing this, but I can’t imagine him crafting a blue ballad performance in his own style as she does with her vocal asking “Will you love me just as I am.”

The songs resonate with both the crisp production and lyrics matched by Carroll’s wonderful vocals that bring a strong country-soul flavor with nice elements such as Steff’s use of accordion on Romeo & Juliet to lend it a Tex-Mex flavor and Leake’s guitar (except on the title track) provides atmosphere without overshadowing her natural, understated singing. While some of the publicity for this characterizes this as a blues recording, there is little actual blues on this (one blues is the somber Waiting For the Storm with a strong guitar solo). Regardless of how one classifies this recording, it is a recording that should appeal to a wide range of listeners with Carroll’s natural, heartfelt singing and the strong backing provided her.

I received a review copy from a publicist for this release.

Jackie Johnson Is A Memphis Jewel

An old school rhythm and blue vocalist that has long been regarded as a local treasure in Memphis, Jackie Johnson may be little known in North America but has established herself in Europe on visits there. She sings on Huey Lewis' recent Soulsville and toured with him. Years ago backed up Shirley Brown and Barbara Carr. Church rooted, she has a new recording Memphis Jewel on Catfood Record that is produced by Jim Gaines with a band that includes Catfish Records owner, Bob Trenchard on bass and other members of The Rays.

Included are covers of songs such as the Gladys Knight classic, It Should Have Been Me, and Smokey Robinson's classic The Tears of a Clown that shows how expressive a vocalist she is. Her sound suggests New Orleans Queen Irma Thomas, and she is a similarly able to lay into a lyric as well as subtly deliver it. The band gets into a hot second line groove on Abner Burnett's Brightside, with hot Lance Keltner slide guitar that suggests Little Feat. Here, her vocal that soars over the backing with lively piano, and the afore-mentioned slide guitar.

Will You Be Mine, penned with her husband is a lovely soulful ballad and is followed by a solid cover of Betty Wrights big hit Clean Up Woman. It is another high point along with Love You Still, a bluesy duet with Johnny Rawls. Trenchard's Wash Your Hands, provides a contrasting mood to the duet with Rawls, as she sings about whether she can redeem herself from an affair she had. Wonderfully sung, with full backing and a marvelous arrangement, this track is typical of this release with solid material, strong backing and a singer who is thoughtful yet so soulful. Jackie Johnson is indeed a Memphis Jewel.


I received my review copy from a publicist for the release.