Track Listing
- Love Fever
- Mended
- Hometown
- I Won't Let You Down
- The Hustle Is On
- Downtown
- How Lonely Can A Woman Get
- Walk Away
- Girl Of Many Worlds
- Minute 'till Dawn
- Bring Your Fine Self Home
- How The Mighty Have Fallen
EB Rating - 4.0+
- Ana Popovic
guitar/vocals
- Rob Gerboers
piano/organ
- Bart Kamp
bass
- Ronald Oor
drums
- Bernard Allison
Guest on #11
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Can a young lady from Yugoslavia really have a handle on the blues? You betcha!
Popovic's mild European accent adds an interesting character to her sassy vocals, and she sings the blues with
obvious comfort and confidence. Add to this the fact that Ana is also quite handy with a guitar, and
you have the complete blues package.
The CD's overall feel is upbeat and spunky, but not heavy. There is a consistent presence of
guitar through out the CD, but I would stop short of calling this a guitar oriented disc.
Elsewhere I've read comparisons of Popovic's style to Hendrix and SRV, but
this is not accurate... nor is it fair to Ana. She truly has a very individual style
that is pretty much unique to her. There's a bit of bite dialed into the guitar's tone, but it's
not over-stated or heavily over-driven. She plays both standard and slide guitar,
and she's very capable in either mode. I like her slide work the best. She grinds out a strong,
bluesy feel, often mixing in a little wah-wah... very nice. When she's fretting the guitar, there's
sometimes a light, jazzy feel to her playing, and a couple of songs were obviously arranged to
compliment that style.
There are an equal number of covers and originals, and there is no fall off as the CD
transistions between them. There are clearly some talented songwriters in this group. I like nearly all
the songs on the CD equally well, but my favorites are the ones featuring Popovic's on slide.
I think it's pretty safe to say that most every blues guitar freak's favorite song will be Ana's
duet with Bernard Allison, "Bring Your Fine Self Home". It's an excellent,
moving, and fun redition of this popular song. The pair trade licks on slide guitar, and it's a good match up.
Hush! is an overall well balanced CD. Popovic's vocals and guitar
each share equally in delivering the music. Neither outweights, nor is more significant, than the other.
The backing musicians provide an interesting variety of rhythms and are solid backdrop for Ana to work from.
The production and technical aspects of the disc are top notch.
Hush! doesn't really fit a typical mold for any certain style
of blues. It's a rather unique and fresh blend of moods and styles, while still maintaining a strong connection
with the blues. So there you have it. This young lady from Yugoslavia can definitely
play the blues, and it's easy for me to recommend this CD to any blues fan.
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