Gettin' Kinda Rough with Grana Louise

You get the feeling listening to blues-soulstress Grana Louise that she knows how to handle herself in just about any situation she might come across. She is one tough woman. Her CD Gettin' Kinda Rough (Delmark 812) comes through like a freight train that's taking on no passengers at the station and, whew, man, she's here and gone!

We are talking about old-school blues-soul with the raw electric power and the in-your-face sassy! Grana sings like a downed power line, crackling, bristling with natural energy and exposed kinetic danger.

She has cannon-shot power and marksmanship precision in her delivery. She's got that explosive blues voice that does most emphatically NOT hold back. She delivers, baby! Raunchy, brimming with blues power. Hey, she is the real deal.

Half the CD is recorded in the studio, the other half in a club where she takes control and OWNS the crowd in the best Chicago blues tradition.

Beware if you are the sort that blushes at subject matter that is NOT POLITE. When she sings that she's going to "Big Dick, Mississippi, where the trees grow tall," there's no missing what she means. This is no refined drawing-room banter, you'd best believe. And when she sings about being a dutiful housefrau, staying home and "learning how to cheat on you," well you know she is not messing around with indirect talk.

This is a hell of an album. The band blows strong behind her and she blows everyone away.

This is old school blues at its very finest. Oh, yes, I mean that! Grana Louise tells it, she sings it, and you knows it. You have been SUNG to, Jackson!