Ana Popovic "Can You Stand the Heat"

"...it's really not all that bad.................................for a girl."

 

That was the closing line from my post on her previous record a couple of years ago.  If you didn't bother to click the link to read it (I'm not looking for page views or $...it just saves me time providing the background so I don't have to rehash it), I touched on the trilogy of playing, singing and writing.  For "...Heat," I found the guitar work more solid and the writing vastly improved, and I discovered the cause as I researched the record.  Instead of flying in from Europe to record in Memphis, this time she relocated the family to the iconic area.  No more dipping the toe in the water and getting out.  In a recent interview, she mentions the family-oriented vibe and was shocked by the quality of the local music scene, and not just on Beale Street, either.  She debuted a nine-piece band for the album (pedigrees include BB King, Al Green & Rufus Thomas), which is the first on her own label, also a wise career adjustment. 

 

F#&K ME RUNNIN'!  If that doesn't make you bounce, you're dead!  There is a sexy, sassy vibe throughout the album which is an ensemble showcase, not just Ms. P. on display.  She says by being European, she doesn't have to stay within a certain genre like most American blues artists seem to do, and this album is proof.  She mentions being influenced by Ronnie Earl and Albert Collins (one of my favorites) and on one of the record's instrumentals you can certainly hear her channeling Mr. C.  There is a guitar break in a track way on the back end of the album that would make Tommy Bolin grin.  Also included is a cool cover of Robert Palmer's "Every Kind of People" for those of you who need something familiar.  Oh, and she can still play the blues...  



I started spinning this CD a month ago and immediately checked her tour schedule, and dammit, she was playing a show in Tampa on the following Friday night that was too busy for me to break away to see.  Crap!  Sitting down yesterday to start this post, I go back to her website and sure enough, she's back in driving distance three times over the next eight months.  Planning on two road trips in early '14. 

This album's been available for six months and had a decent showing on Billboard's Blues and Heatseekers charts, but that doesn't do justice to this album.  This is a career-defining record in the category of Raitt's "Nick of Time" and Tedeschi's "Wait For Me."  I've got twenty-something new albums in my queue, but "Can You Stand The Heat" has earned an extended stay in the rotation. 

It's that good...