Roxanne Potvin

The bilingual multi-instrumentalist (guitar/piano) and vocalist will likely be lumped with fellow Canadian blues women such as Sue Foley (who was instrumental in bringing her to Ruf's attention), but on the basis of this sophomore release, that's misleading. Rather, the Ottawa raised musician infuses blues into a variety of singer/songwriter styles. The Way It Feels, which was released in Canada almost a year before it came out in the States, revels in different musical set pieces that display Roxanne Potvin's sultry voice and eclectic stylings. The guest roster of Daniel Lanois, John Hiatt, Bruce Cockburn and Memphis Horns veteran Wayne Jackson indicates that Potvin is comfortable in styles besides the blues and R&B that characterize, but doesn't monopolize, this album. Terrific, even revelatory covers of Joe Tex's "I Want To (Do Everything for You)" and Freddie King's "Your Love Keeps Working on Me" find Potvin immersed in the soul aspects of the blues, and her own compositions that dominate this set occasionally follow suit. The lovely solo piano ballad "Don't Pay Attention" is clearly aimed at the Norah Jones crowd, as is the waltz time, French-sung "La Merveille".

The cover's cutout silhouette of these guitar-slinging soul/blues women is a succinct visual overview of the rather ambiguous contents within. Recorded in preparation for 2007's Blues Caravan tour featuring journeywomen singer/songwriters Sue Foley and Deborah Coleman along with the comparatively fresh-faced Roxanne Potvin (whose first widely distributed set was released earlier the same year), the disc seems more like a respectable concert souvenir than an actual collaborative affair. The 11 tracks break down into three solo cuts from each participant, one shared and joyous effort on the closing cover of a Chess oldie, "In the Basement," and a crackling instrumental dominated by Foley's always impressive guitar. There are many fine moments here, especially as Coleman lays into an easy funk groove on James Brown's "Talking Loud" and on Potvin's emotionally charged ballad "Strong Enough to Hold You".

This highly touted vocalist/guitarist originally hails from Ottawa, Canada, although her home base shifted to Austin, Texas, when she signed with Antone's Records and cut her debut set, Young Girl Blues, in 1992 (an encore, Without a Warning, quickly followed). Foley's wicked lead guitar makes her a rarity among blueswomen. When she was a child in Ottawa, Foley listened to rock & roll and blues-rock groups like the Rolling Stones. Although these bands sowed the seeds of her affection for the blues, her love for the music didn't blossom until she witnessed James Cotton in concert when she was 15 years old. Cotton inspired Foley to pick up the electric guitar. During her late teens and early twenties, she jammed with local Ottawa bar bands. She didn't form her own group until she moved to Vancouver in the mid-'80s.