Change (Dig)
Unplugged, but electrifying nonetheless, Canada-based blueswoman Sue Foley's first live disc was recorded in one take with a band that hadn't rehearsed the set. Yet, instead of a sloppy, slapdash show, she delivers her most inspired and undoubtedly most intimate album to date. With a sparse three-piece band nimbly following along, Foley digs into personal blues favorites, dusty obscurities, new songs, and even aGeorge Harrisoncover. Delta blues, Piedmont-style fingerpicking, boogie-woogie, folk, and even jazz mesh in a set that easily shifts from shyly sensitive to sadly ruminative to unabashedly sexy. Foley's quivering, almost childlike voice perfectly juxtaposes these emotions as she sings with loose-limbed confidence, helping to create an uninhibited feel that jumps out of the grooves.--Hal Horowitz