Return to The River

With a vibrant, versatile voice (sounding at times like an inspired mix of Janis Joplin and Bonnie Raitt) capable of adding subtle emotional shifts to slow-burning ballads or rocking out with the big boys, Susan Tedeschi burst on the scene at the close of the 1990s like a breath of fresh air in an era of prefab MTV teen idols. Like Raitt, Tedeschi works from a blues base, but she mixes in a strong sense of R&B and gospel, and with Back to the River, her second release for Verve Forecast, she shows that she's really starting to find herself as a songwriter, as well. Tedeschi wrote or co-wrote all but one of the 11 tracks here, and while one could still say these songs are based in her beloved blues, like Raitt, she has branched out from there to become a solid pop artist with a real and accessible vision, and the blues is just the engine under the hood. There are some wonderful moments here, including the big and funky title track, "Back to the River," which Tedeschi co-wrote with swamp pop master Tony Joe White, the sincere and solid "Learning the Hard Way," co-written with Gary Louris of the Jayhawks, and the impressive "Butterfly," which Tedeschi' co-wrote with her husband, Derek Trucks.

Terry Evans' CDs can usually be found in the blues bins, but Come to the River is an album that has as much to do with R&B and black gospel as it does with the 12-bar format. A moving, earthy singer who sounds like he's spent a lot of time around black church choirs, Evans has a deep, booming voice that serves him impressively well, whether he's tearing into the Willie Dixon classics "I Just Want to Make Love to You" and "My Babe" or treating us to gospel-drenched soul singing on the title song and the ballad "Please No More." Evans' approach to R&B shows no awareness of urban contemporary - he obviously prefers the great Southern soul music of the 1960s and has become an expert in that area himself. From Chicago blues to Memphis R&B, Evans has clearly done his homework.