RUF Records artists: Dani Wilde, Victoria Smith, Samantha Fish - Girls With Guitars the DVD - New Release Review

The show opens with Are You Gonna Go My Way, a Lenny Kravitz track loosely based on Procol Harem's Whiskey Train. The girls are all in short skirts and heels with Fish front and center but I can tell you these girls mean business! Vocals are shared by Fish and Wilde with each taking a verse and then trading off lead riffs. Both girls play tele's but Wilde plays a conventional Tele with a cutting sound and Fish a Tele special with humbuckers for a fatter sound. On Don't Go Making Me Cry, a Wilde original, Wilde takes the lead on vocal and plays some smokin' riffs on this R&B flavored track. She has an unconventional picking style, more like a bass player and makes it work well for her. Next up is James Gang's (Joe Walsh) Funk # 49. This is a classic rock track and both Wlide and Fish take a crack at the mic. Smith is really holding down the bottom well with her 4 string P bass and she gets a chance to show her chops a bit on this track. Next up is Red Blooded Woman, another Wilde original. Fish takes a breather and the band operates as a trio. Wilde has a very solid voice and her clean guitar tone and palm muting technique is especially noticeable on this track. Wilde looks to be playing through a Blackface Twin and the tone is right on. Fish rejoins for Screamin' Jay Hawkins' I Put A Spell On You. She takes the lead on both guitar and vocal and makes it her own. I really think that she does a nice job on it keeping with the basis of the original but putting her own flavor on it and not overdoing the theatrics as some others have done recently. The guitar refrain on this track really smokes. Fish follows up with an original track, Leaving Kind loosely based on Rollin' and Tumblin'. Fish plays a few short riffs on slide in conventional tuning. On Money To Burn, another Fish original, Wilde plays some really sweet guitar riffs sounding very San Francisco based including some nice harmonic overtones. Fish's vocal are really strong on this track but the guitar work by Wilde on this track is the ticket. Fisk does play a pretty hot riff of her own on this track through what appears to be a tweed deluxe. This is a really cool track. I've only had the pleasure to review one of Wilde's recordings but if she plays like this often, I am anxious to hear more! Falling, a Wilde original, gets back into the R&B styling. Wilde really does have a solid voice and it does carry her tracks well. Wilde's guitar picking style is unconventional enough that I find myself studying her work. Kind of a mix between a bass player and Derek Trucks. Nice track...really! Juice Me Up, another Wilde original, is a straight up rocker. Fish and Wilde trade riffs and Smith and drummer Denis Palatin keeps a tight ship. Smokey Robinsons' Who's Loving You of course keeps things in the soul vein and Wilde keeps the lead vocal role. Wilde has obviously studied this musical style because she executes it like she has lived it as opposed to some plastic cover as is often seen in contemporary blues covers. Up next is Fish original Down In The Swamp. I really like the repeating vamp by bass player Smith on this track and it gives Fish a really nice platform to sing and rip over. Mississippi Kisses, a Wilde original, shows Wilde in a different guitar light on a fast boogie track. Want to turn this track up if for no other reason ...just to hear Smith on bass. Wilde and Fish alternate throwing down guitar riffs and this is a great track! Wilde takes a break and a Fish original, Other Side of The Bottle is up next. A slinky little track, Fish shows a different vocal style and it's very effective. Wilde returns for another Fish original, Runaway. Fish takes her most aggressive solo of the evening and actually kicks off her heels and walks the audience to play in the crowd. The end is here and the concert is concluded with Steve Miller hit Jet Airliner.

The bonus section includes a really nice acoustic track featuring Wilde singing in a Breman record store accompanied acoustically by Smith and Fish, candid dressing room interviews with the girls and footage of the band setting up and signing autographs.  I gotta tell you, this is a really strong recording and the news is Dani Wilde! Everyone knows that Fish can really play and sing but Dani Wilde really turns up the heat and comes out of the shadow on this recording.

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Girls With Guitars Live - Wilde/Smith/Fish - New release Review

I just received the new release, Girls With Guitars Live from Dani Wilde, Victoria Smith and Samantha Fish. This is a 2 disk set, one audio and 1 video and each of the disks has something that the other doesn't. I like that. Today I'm going to exclusively review the audio portion and will get the video reviewed as quickly as possible. The release opens with a butt kicking cover of the Stones' Bitch. I remember as a kid requesting this track on the radio , yeah we used to do that, and they couldn't play it because they couldn't say the name! This is a great rocker to open the show. Don't Go Making Me Cry, is an R&B based track with some fiery guitar work pushing things along nicely. Red Blooded Woman is a modern style 12 bar blues which could see a lot of airplay. It has the universal modern blues styling and extended guitar soloing to attract broad interest. Screamin' Jay Hawkins' I Put A Spell On You is always a welcome addition and in this case it is handled with a bit of a different vocal attack more with the sensitivity of Janis as opposed to the full out push that has been seen in other recent remakes. The guitar work on this track is also played on the down low with a San Francisco flair. The guitar tone is very warm and the solo's unpredictable. Excellent! Leaving Kind, based loosly on the Rollin' and Tumblin' sound, another track that could generate a bit of airplay has solid vocal work as well as smooth slide work under the track. Money To Burn has a really cool style which definitely has it's roots in the 60's. It puts me in the mind of Season of The Witch that Michael Bloomfield did at the Fillmore and also maybe influenced by work by Steven Stills and Led Zeppelin. It's a different song altogether but the groove and ambiance is there. A definite favorite. This is a long cooker giving Fish some leeway to burn! Juice Me Up, definitely on the lighter side and more of a radio track which could again draw broad audience. A guitar duo on this track cements the interest by concert goers. Smokey Robinson's Who's Loving You gets a solid soul treatment with clean smoky vocals. There is some gritty guitar work on the tail of this track that is again noteworthy. Down In The Swamp has a heavy lead instrumental melody which I like pretty well. The tone of the guitar on this portion of the track is really cool. There are a number of guitar things happening here at once and it doesn't sound crowded but complimentary. The lead guitar work on this track is nicely done. Mississippi Kisses has more of a jazz feel but with some ripping guitar lead. This is a nice track to get each of the players upfront and swinging. The recording concludes with Steve Miller's Jet Airliner. The track is sure again to be a great concert crowd pleaser.

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Bitch - Girls With Guitars

The name says it all. “Girls with Guitars” – the 2011 Ruf Records Blues Caravan Tour – presents three of the scene’s hottest young female guitar slingers on a single stage.
Over the past six years, the Blues Caravan has toured successfully in the UK, USA and throughout continental Europe. This unique triple bill revue has helped introduce bright new stars such as Ana Popovic and Joanne Shaw Taylor to an international audience. Following in their footsteps on the 2011 tour is a trio of dynamic, up-and-coming blues talents: Dani Wilde, Cassie Taylor and Samantha Fish.
Hailing from Brighton, England, Dani Wilde sings the blues with the old-school fervor of Aretha Franklin, but also takes a cue from contemporaries like Duffy and Joss Stone. The singer/songwriter/guitarist has just released her second album, Shine, a collaboration with renowned producer Mike Vernon (Eric Clapton, Fleetwood Mac). She has shared stages with luminaries like Robben Ford, Candye Kane and Koko Taylor. Says Paul Jones of BBC Radio 2: “Dani Wilde's voice is astounding, with a unique raw passion and energy. She sings with more conviction and passion than old legends from the Mississippi Delta.”
At the tender age of 21, Samantha Fish is already a hot property on the live music scene in and around her hometown of Kansas City, Missouri. She discovered the blues almost by accident as a teenager, but it has since become her singular mission in life. Her high-heeled, rock-edged performances have won her a loyal local following and carried her to venues like Rosa’s Lounge in Chicago, where she opened eyes during the 2010 Chicago Blues Festival. 2011 seems destined to be her breakout year.
Proud to call herself the “Daughter of a Bluesman,” multi-instrumentalist Cassie Taylor has appeared on eight critically-acclaimed albums by her father, Otis Taylor, and accompanied him on tours all over the world. She was also a featured vocalist on Gary Moore’s 2008 release Bad For You Baby. Still just in her early 20s, Cassie has been hailed for her commanding stage presence and “heavenly” voice (Boston Globe). Her music ranges from heart-wrenching ballads to hard-driving blues. Like her father, Taylor doesn’t shy from topical subject matter, nor shrink from breaching musical boundaries.
This trio of young, passionate performers is backed by a top-flight band of road-tested professionals for more than two hours of live blues excellence.
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