"White Trash"

A CD review by "John the Barbarian" for

The Kansas City Blues News, 1/10/06

Kelley Hunt - "New Shade of Blue"

Susan Tedeschi - "Hope and Desire"

Danielle Schnebelen and Trampled Under Foot - "White Trash"

by John the Barbarian

It's strange how fate just sort of seems to pop up occasionally and give you a new outlook on things.  A couple of months back just about the time I was given the latest Susan Tedeschi CD, Hope and Desire, to review we had the opportunity of playing on the same program with Kelley Hunt.  I was absolutely floored by her show and the tightness of her band as they flawlessly executed one dynamic arrangement after another.  And so I thought I just couldn't do the Tedeschi review without giving equal time to Hunt.

Matters only got worse a couple of weeks later when we followed Danielle Schnebelen and Trampled Under Foot at a Trouser Mouse benefit for battered women.  So get out your credit cards folks, all three of these CDs should be in your collection.

What impresses me about all three women is the seamless manner in which they blend a variety of musical styles into a unique intersection that they can rightfully call their own.

Kelley Hunt is probably at the top of the heap with her third entry New Shade of Blue.  Of the three, it's clearly the most ambitious project.  As with all of Hunt's albums the influence of gospel, blues and Zydeco combines for a package of incredibly tight arrangements with millisecond stops that are so crisp that it seems like an hour goes by before the song fires up again.

Most of the songs on the CD are originals.  There's a cover of the Lennon and McCartney tune The Word and, quite frankly, if I had to lose one song from the CD that would be the one (which should give you some indication of just how strong the rest of the CD is).

Included is a duet with Delbert McClinton and my two personal favorites; When the Love Comes Through and the rompingly, soulful, Zydeco, gospel It Ain't Over When It's Over.  Honey if you got to go you might as well go to this number, cause you could sure do worse no matter which direction you’re going.

Tedeschi's Hope and Desire is less ambitious only in the sense that having just expended her creative energies giving birth to a child she decided to do an album of covers.  Mixed in are a Stones number, one from Dylan and then there's Motown, Muscle Shoals, you name it, it's on here.

That's the thing that makes this album so outstanding for me is that each song sounds like it belongs to her even though it has the feel of the original style.  A personal favorite is Tired of My Tears and it even sounds like it was recorded and mixed in a late 60's Motown studio.

One of the things that adds to the quality of the mix of Tedeschi's last two albums is the guitar work of husband Derek Trucks (and also on this CD Doyle Bramhall).  While Just Won't Burn, Tedeschi's second album is a great listen, the solo guitar work was often a distraction.  There are no such distractions on Desire and Hope.  It is consistent and solid throughout.

I've long argued that the Kansas City area is to blues what Seattle is to Grunge.  Actually Hunt, based in Lawrence, should actually be considered a local product.  Levee Town is winding up an exhausting 2005 schedule and Bobby Carson is reportedly preparing for an assault on New York City.  But a real favorite that just demanded to be included in this review is the latest effort by Danielle Schnebelen.  Simply called "White Trash" the album was taped live at Trouser Mouse, the Blue Springs blues outpost, and it is excellent.

There is no litany of expert studio musicians brought in for the occasion, just Danielle, her two brothers and a keyboard player (since departed).  The sound is excellent.  The recording is clear and manages to capture the sultry, laid-back essence of Danielle's style.  While I love Cotton Candy's version of Summertime (a better part of my ongoing health is dependent on that comment staying in this review), Danielle's version on this CD is worth the price of admission. When you add in outstanding renditions of other classics like Dust My Blues and Chain of Fools, it's all gravy.

Listening to it as I type I can still picture that lazy Sunday afternoon at the Mouse when everyone was still fried from the night before and watching Danielle's charismatic performance carry the audience along as if it were a summer afternoon in the park.

Give this woman the same A&R help and studio budget that Tedeschi and Hunt had and Kansas City will have yet another national act.  In the meantime, enjoy Danielle and Trampled Under Foot while you can.  It may not be for long.