Blues with a message: "Gaye Without Shame"

Yesterday I wrote about Maria Muldaur's new CD, "Yes We Can," a plea for peace and love in the world, and today I want to take a look at the other of the two "message" CDs I have -- Gaye Adegbalola and "Gaye Without Shame" (Hot Toddy Music via Vizztone).

While I'm sure that Muldaur's album comes from deeply held feelings, Adegbalola's comes from gut-wrenching personal experience as a black lesbian, and the music carries all of that weight with it. Many of the songs are her own, painfully laying bare her own life. Some are covers that speak to her, and a few are covers reworked to suit her message.

Most blues fans will know her as a founding member of Sapphire, the Uppity Blues Women, a raucous trio whose trademark was cleverly crafted blues that touched, often with ribald pleasure, on age-old themes of love and lust.

This solo effort does the same, in a way, with brutally frank songs like the rollicking opening autobiographical, "Queer Blues." But she follows it up with one of the most poignant and tender of blues love songs, Jimmy Reed's lovely "Honest I Do," done here as a delicious duet with Resa Gibbs, adding a piano to caress the melody. Here's a sample of that, just because I like it so much:

There's a lot of variety in the songs and styles. Gaye tackles religious hypocrisy with "Lying Preacher" and a nasty slide guitar -- "Any preacher with more than two suits is livin' a lie...."  (perhaps with a look over the shoulder to Lenny Bruce for that thought).

There's a tender original, "Hold My Hand, Baby," an acoustically quiet ode to AIDS victims. There's a great cover, with more stinging slide, of the great Tampa Red tune, "It Hurts Me Too."

There's an oldies flavor here, too, with a slightly altered but definitely not neutered "Great Pretender," and an original doo-wop "Boy in the Boat." Then there's the lusty blues chestnut, "Meet Me With Your Black Drawers On." And there are a lot of other great songs here. Check it out.

Musically, there's not a bad track on the CD. Thematically they are adventurous and honest, and, if blues fans are as open and honest as they seem, they should appreciate this refreshingly topical and contemporary music in a traditional blues basket. Musically they cover a wide range of styles, from honky-tonk '20s to sharp electric edgy blues.

This is all deliciously raunchy, poignantly tender, rough and ready, soft and sweet, lusty and loving, spiritual and profane -- everything that good blues and probably the good life should be. All the while the music never loses the focus of her own personal struggles. It's not an an easy thing to do, but she does it very well.  While the blues has always been ripe with sexual metaphor, Gaye and "Gaye" go where few metaphors have dared to go in contemporary blues songwriting.

Gaye and co-producer, Bob Margolin, the fine blues guitarist, deserve much credit for putting together this package. Margolin added his vote of confidence by releasing it through the VizzTone label group, of which he is a founding member. Margolin also contributes tough and tasty guitar throughout, and several of the tracks were recorded at his North Carolina home.

This is a unique and powerful album, created in the best blues tradition of stepping outside the boundaries of convention. And it's a lot of fun.

Pittsburgh Blues Festival

It's coming up, and it looks like some good music ahead. BlueNotes is currently working out the details of his personal appearance schedule for the weekend. Watch this space for details.