New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ Kat & Co. official website) Blues artists Kat & Co. have released their flagship new LP, "I Kat the Blues," on the ToneTrade Records label. The record is Kat & Co.'s debut full-length album and serves as a magnificent introduction for music fans not yet acquainted with their growing body of work. For fans of the blues, however, it is much, much more. "I Kat the Blues" is a return to legitimate blues music the likes of which just isn't done anymore.
A genre dominated for decades by campy, amateur cover artists in affluent restaurants, the blues has been devoid of new records by new artists. For years blues fans have listened to the same John Lee Hooker and
Buddy Guy albums they've practically worn smooth for lack of something genuine and low-down blue to play. The wait is over for this woebegone music scene, however, because "I Kat the Blues" by Kat & Co. is not only blue as the ocean depths and groovy as the swaying of a boxcar, but real as flesh and blood, and truer to the old spirit of the Deep South than might be thought possible.
At the heart of Kat & Co. are the sultry chanteuse Kathleen Pearson, guitarist and producer Francesco Accurso, and pianist Federico Parodi. What stars must have aligned to bring the world such a magical conjunction of creativity and soulful sonorousness cannot be fathomed. Accurso's guitar would be worth the price of admission alone, his sliding notes mourning and wailing with just that right amount of aggression, that perfect balance of lay-back and stand-up. Parodi's piano sounds effortlessly elegant, sometimes plinking his keys in a honky-tonk fashion, sometimes making them sing in chorus like the choir of a Tennessee church.
Naturally, Pearson herself, for whom the band is named, is the star attraction of the record. Her voice sounds like chocolate poured over hot coals. The complexity of her cool undertones makes simple phrases into short works of musical poetry. Half her performance is inflection, almost talking even, and this is stately, tasteful restraint on her part - her actual singing is easily as evocative as Aretha, or Ella, or Etta, and though she's clearly capable of great bursts of song, her style is subtle, smoky, and perfect in ways that haven't been accomplished by a blues singer in years and years.
If there's a chance that the blues might appear once again in the music spotlight the way it did in the 50s, 60s, and 70s, Kat & Co. are the obvious champions of the scene, where, "We drink bourbon, not wine," as their song goes. May the music gods bless them for it.
"I Kat the Blues" by Kat & Co. is available online everywhere.
The LP "I Kat the Blues" is distributed globally by MondoTunes (www.MondoTunes.com) and is available at iTunes for convenient purchase and download
ARTIST CONTACT INFO:
eMail:
[email protected]
website: www.katandco.co.uk
Twitter: https://twitter.com/katandco
