The eponymous title track is a gentle folksy opener, just piano, guitar and voice but her voice soars to fill your senses an excellent introduction. You Still Take is bluesier than the opener. This is a very powerful and political song about her ancestry, finished off with a chant. She has a distinctive method of playing guitar she plays it in her lap and the effect is pleasing to the ear. Whole World Down On Me is a great title for a blues song and she provides us with a grittier vocal here. Her vocals are flying again on Wait Till You Come Back Again which is littered with ancestral influences. Catch Me Fast has Pura Fe playing very passable slide guitar as she returns to the folk influences of the opening track. This has another very powerful and emotional vocal. The vocal gymnastics continue on The Promise Of It’s Shine and her voice is so easy on the ear at times. Her music is an amalgam of many genres but she turns it into something quite unique. There are two ‘bird dances’ on the album, Robin Dance and Pigeon Dance, both short and Native American chants although the former certainly has some Celtic influences in there. The best title on the album has to go to Don’t Trade Your Legs For A Pair Of Wings. This is quite simply, stunning and is my favourite track. Rise Up Tuscarora Nation needs very little description and, being a Scot, I have an affinity. Her husky tones are now becoming commonplace and continue into Della Blackmore/Pick And Choose. This is blues with a Pura Fe twist and is almost acoustic rock. I haven’t spoken much about her guitar playing but she is more than able here a highlight. She returns to her roots for Going Home/Stomp Dance which starts out with a spoken blues history lesson before going into a Native American chant and dance. The closing track, Sweet Willie, is a pleasant finish and overall the album shows her to be challenging Bonnie Raitt and outshining Joss Stone. -David Blue, NetRhythms
