I waited eagerly for this album and whilst not wholly dissapointed, I don't think it quite knows what it wishes to be.

When she is concentrating solely on the blues and gospel side, it's superb, but I fear some Marketing Exec pushed for some 'pop' tracks to be inserted to make is more viable. This is sad as with the current rebirth of the blues, gospel and traditional music, she could have paved the way. Her voice is strong and clear and fits the bill when it comes to her interpretation of traditional music, bringing it to new, modern heights but without loosing the essence.

The 2 'seller' tracks are undoubtedly Nobody's Fault But Mine' and 'Only One Cloud', the first is a traditional gospel tune arranged by Rowley and the second is written by her and Ben Castle and sounds old and weary and brilliant. Sweet Hours is OK, So Sublime is the pop one which I guess was designed to hit the charts same as Oh My Life. She does a great version of Dylan's I Shall Be Released and Willie Nelson's 'Angel Flying Too Close To The Ground'. And 'Amost Persuaded' is a gem.

That's the thing here, there are gems and there are 'norms' [normal filler tracks], what a great album it could have been if it had decided on one thing or the other. As it is, I am now in debate as to if to keep as a whole or load the gems onto my ipod.

www.bethrowley.com/home

Here are some photo's taken by my sister Jac from the awesome 50th Birthday Party:-

The Blushing Crows

Friday evening went to a friends 50th Birthday party and what a real treat it was. Graham, the birthday boy, is heavily steeped in music. He plays fiddle [or perhaps he would prefer me to say violin], whistle, saxaphone and oh, loads more - you now how these musicians are. Not content with having the talent to play just the one instrument, they take on an entire orchestra's content. His wife, Jules, sings in a choir and of course together, they have musical friends. And so we were invited to the '08 Event' at the Standard Triumph Club in Coventry.

Apart from great food and an unbelieveable birthday cake in the style of a sheet of music and the top's crowning glory being several musical instruments, we had hours of wonderful live music. Starting with The Show Girls which were Jools and some of her pals from the choir she belongs to. Mostly show tunes, they sung with much gusto and Jools did a brave rendition of Prince's Nothing Compares which received enthusiastic applause.

Danny & Ben were next, 2 young guys with guitars and of course vocals and they were good, really good! As I was then at that stage stuffing my face, I failed to note any of the songs they played. Struck me at the time that I don't think I could ever do any live stuff [not that I ever aim to anyway] as I couldn't play over the constant hum of folks talking, but then I guess it's all about the ambience it creates.

Next up was the Celts, billing themselves as 'the Fake Dubliners' and featured Graeme himself on mean fiddle and whistle and Danny O'Keefe, a local singer/songwrite and guitar, mandolin and banjo player. Danny actually played at my wedding 2 years ago. He seems so focused when he plays which always inspires me to carry on with my pathetic banjo plucking but he also has a voice which commands a listen as he waded through some well known Irish song. Check him out yourself and download some of his tunes at www.dannyokeeffe.co.uk

There is nothing more earthy and toe tapping than an Irish Jig and this got the house going. I wanted them to carry on all night. Then they introduced a 'real Dubliner' Carmel Sliver. Carmel sang a couple of traditional Irish songs with a voice that held so much sweet emotion that you could not but listen. I know nothing of her but I get the feeling she has been singing all her life. A nice touch was that on the tables was a sheet of chorus lyrics so that we could sing along. How cool was that.

The night ended with The Blushing Crows, a 4 piece band which rocked the house. The young guy on the elctric guitar was phenominal and the female, lead singer was very cool. It got us on the dance floor and we really grooved to a great version of Play That Funky Music!

All in all, a great party and a joy to listen to live music courtesy of your hosts. Well done Graham and Jules!

Travelled to Ross today and took my trusty and ever-so-slow-to-start-up ipod. Thouhgt I'd work my way through my 'year' folder, 60's, 70's etc. So a jungle of fab stuff bounded from my speakers which included Howard Jones, Grace Jones, Duran Duran, Donovan, Aretha Franklin, The Jacksons .... oh it goes on and on AND I was singing along for the first time in an age.

Bottle of red and Disturbia on DVD tonight to block out the rain.

Good to be back and I hope to keep up the blogging [I know, I've written that before].

Wow, July and no blog writing for quite some time! Work and travelling with work has halted any serious music listening but I am still here and the latest issue of Mojo has sparked off a hankering to listen to the Fleet Foxes. CD should be delivered tomorrow and I hope to get some serious ear work going this week and report back on my findings later.

What's with the weather?

Was in Ireland working last week, this is how Port Stewart looked at 10.25pm.