Artist:     Rosie Flores A Simple Case of the Blues

Album:     Rosie Flores A Simple Case of the Blues

Label:     Last Music

Release Date:     2.15.2019

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Rosie Flores has earned an impeccable reputation over four decades as a writer, guitarist, and performer in punk, rockabilly, and vintage honky-tonk, so a blues album comes as a major surprise. Oh, but wait! Rosie calls it an “R&B” record even though it’s an amazing journey through soul to jump blues to swing to rockabilly and rave-up gospel. Flores does it all with aplomb, and, with her cast of backing musicians, one would be hard-pressed to find a more stellar lineup. Her vocals have never sounded better.

The album was recorded in Nashville and Austin and co-produced by Charlie Sexton, Kenny Vaughn, and Dave Roe, all of whom play on the record. Sexton is in a support role on rhythm guitar while Flores and Vaughn trade leads. Roe (Johnny Cash) is on electric and upright bass with Jimmy Lester on drums, T Jarrod Bonta on piano/Wurlitzer and Mike Flanigin (Jimmie Vaughn) on organ. Cindy Cashdollar adds lap steel, harmonica ace Greg Izor blows his brains out on “Drive, Drive Drive” and a three piece horn section and four background vocalists join in.

Flores was one of the seminal artists in the Southern California country scene, marked by performances at the legendary Palomino Club. She’s the first Latino woman to ever chart in country music, she’s won a Peabody Award and released several highly-rated albums. As she proves here, she’s long been considered one of the top all-time female guitarists. She puts her soulful voice and pure, on-the-spot note picking to tunes written by Roy Brown, Wilson Pickett, Heath Wilson, Lieber & Stoller, and on three originals, including the title track.

Flores says, Simple Case of the Blues was a long time coming. “I got infatuated with the blues in high school. It was the first music I ever played. This is the music you make when you’ve come through joy and heartbreak and back again.” That last statement is epitomized by the opening jump blues of Roy Brown’s “Love Don’t Love Nobody,” as Flores trades licks with Vaughn. Then she and the band dive deep into the slow burner “Mercy Fell Like Rain,” another shining example of Flores’ clean guitar picking. She plays in a different style than Robert Cray but she’s like him in the sense that not a single note is wasted, clearly heard on her chill-inducing solo on the bridge. This tune also spotlights Flanigin on the B3 and the background vocalists supporting Flores’ impassioned delivery.

Flores then bounces into another jump blues, “I Want to Do More” featuring T. Jarrod Bonta’s stride piano and a call-and-response exchange with Greg Williams on saxophone. The title track is a mid-tempo shuffle in minor chords, with Flores’ showing her blues shouter chops here and on “Drive, Drive, Drive,” which goes full throttle with blazing guitars and Izor’s roaring blues harp. “Till the Well Runs Dry” continues the throbbing vibe in a fun-loving ‘50s R&B groove, another vehicle for Williams’ honking tenor.

She takes the Dwight Yoakam-penned, “If There Was a Way” into vintage soul territory, delivering one of her best, among many vocals. It has all the requisite ingredients of a classic soul tune with gleaming horns, the oohs and aahs of the vocalists, and crafty, economical guitar breaks. The alternating pace of the album returns to the danceable “That’s What You Gotta Do” before the Dave Roe/John Alford simmering “Enemy Hands,” with its clean resonating guitar passages. “Teenage Rampage” is an aptly-named Flores/Vaughn instrumental of dueling guitars that leads into the soul closer, the Wilson Pickett penned “If You Need Me,” associated mostly with Solomon Burke. Flores brilliantly captures the essence of the tune, complete with the spoken word middle piece before she and Vaughn trade guitar leads like two lovers in serious discussion. Again, the soulful background is spot on, with Williams’s sax providing the undercurrent.

It’s easy to see why Flores calls this the best album of her career. Let’s see if Flores and this Nashville/Austin cast of musicians are considered for a BMA. In any case, check this, a February release, as an early contender for one of this year’s best soul/blues albums.

—Jim Hynes