Artist: Whitney Shay
Album: Stand Up!
Label: Ruf Records
Release Date: 2.28.2020
Whitney Shay returns to the recording ring with a truly inspired offering on Germany’s premier blues label, Ruf. Following the acclaim garnered by her last release, A Woman Rules the World, in 2018, Shay has again pushed the music bar aside to deliver an excellent, full-on rocking R&B album that packs a hefty punch, the immediacy of the opening title track fuelled by a great horn section from the Texas Horns, the album having been cut in Austin. This is pretty much Memphis meets Austin.
Other luminaries active on the release include the always-quality Laura Chaves with her usual fiery, inventive fretwork chops, and Guy Forsyth. This is a 12-track album that is guaranteed to keep toes tapping and bodies bouncing on any available dancefloor. Shay has a voice that is strong, melodic and commanding at all times. Her soulful delivery on the few slower-paced tracks merely hint at the sheer beauty of her overall power and quality.
Shay herself reckons Stand Up! is made for “dancing, drinking and dreaming.” Whatever the thinking behind this release, one thing is sure, and that is the likelihood that this album will propel Shay into the blues spotlight where, on the basis of recent releases, she so clearly deserves to be. Her growing band of fans will be more than happy even after they finally stop dancing and bouncing along to its raucous brilliance and beauty. This is an album that must be played loud.
—Iain Patience
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