Don’t let a review where I keep my word count in check fool you. This is a remarkable album from one of our best female vocalists. I am keeping it short because it pushes the edge of our genre areas, even as a western swing album featuring such notable jazzmen as Mike Davis on trumpet, Sam Chess on Trombone, Ricky Alexander on reeds, and Dalton Ridenhour on piano. With another six musicians in the very full band playing fiddles, guitar, lap steel, bass, and drums. A few of those others probably also have jazz backgrounds. Megg does play guitar well enough to accompany her singing live but has stuck to vocals in her recording sessions.
Sweet Megg leads a dual life musically, she has recorded extensively for Turtle Bay these last few years, including a vocal jazz album with Ricky Alexander, a jazzy Christmas record, and a previous western swing effort called “My Window Faces The South,” which had more jazz content than this one.
“Someday Sweetheart,” arranged by Ricky Alexander, is essentially jazz, but it is followed by “Please Help Me I’m Falling,” as a pure country tune arranged by Mike Davis. Then follows “Little Bit,” a Megg original written with guitarist Justin Poindexter that sounds like such a country classic I tried to track it down! Duke Ellington’s “In a Sentimental Mood” follows but isn’t very jazzy either. There are 12 songs in all “Once More With Feeling” is a highlight, a knock your socks off performance from Megg, who has the kind of subtly delivery that once created super stars, and that is before the climactic ending. But alas, not jazz, even with a full horn section.
So if you are a jazz exclusivist and see this album on Turtle Bay’s website, it isn’t for you. But if you have an appreciation for 1940s-’50s pop vocal country or western swing this album has heat for days and you are bound to play it to dust. The musicians are on fire, and Megg is a powerhouse. Do not let it pass you by.
Sweet Megg
Bluer Than Blue
www.turtlebayrecords.com
