Gatorhythms
A mainstay of the festival circuit and blues clubs, Marcia  Ball is a  captivating performer and a one-woman ambassador for the south  Louisiana sound  she loves. This, her third Rounder album, dates from 1989. It's a  mostly  self-composed program that doesn't quite capture the  joy of her  live shows, but comes close at times. Of all the new songs, "The Power  of Love" is  best. It's a beautifully poised performance that grows slowly and  inexorably  from a two-minute vocal-piano intro. Some of the songs are built  around the  mournful swamp-pop chord changes; others around Cajun two-steps.  The album  closes with country star LeRoy Parnell's "Red Hot," which has  since become one  of her show-closers.--Colin Escott