'REVIEW: Karen Lovely, 'Ten Miles Of Bad Road,' Kokako Records

This isn't your grandmother's blues. Sure, vocally, Oregon's Karen Lovely takes her cues from Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith and Janis Joplin. These 13 original tracks, though, widen those standard blues progressions into another animal entirely. It's more a mellow soul groove from a great new singer and a hotshot band of Los Angeles studio stalwarts. The result is '10 Miles Of Bad Road' (Kokako) and if you want to traverse that, you have to be strong. Lovely is strong.