Joanna Cotten: "Funkabilly" [Album]

One of the exciting parts about music is, that it is alive and you never know, when you discover something new, that completely fits your taste. It may be because lyrics are important to you and those lyrics simply hit a nerve for you, it may be that you like the beat and rhythm it throws at you, it may be the atmosphere and feeling it conveys or simply the singer and his/her voice or a combination of parts or all of these aspects.

There is a certain excitement that comes with such a discovery and that's what I felt when I first heard the sound of 'Funkabilly' and Joanna Cotten!

I had neither heard of this singer nor of her music before, but I was discovering Funk music at that time and was curious how this could possibly mix with 'hillbilly' music. What the word combination of the album name and title track already hints at, is a mix of various musical styles.

Her home page fittingly states: "A sultry slide guitar, the lonely moan of a blues harp, the righteous thump of a fatback bass and the sticky soulful rhythm of a Beale Street backbeat… Joanna Cotten’s music lays it all out like a slow ride down through the Delta. Then she starts to sing, and all Heaven breaks loose."

I do prefer the voice of my singers recognizeable and unique, which typically applies to the male side of the spectrum. And while Joanna Cotten does not have a very unusual or unique voice, it shines with power and emotion, which keeps my attention from the moment she starts to sing! Her delivery effortlessly flies through a variety of styles, mostly upbeat on this album, complemented by a slick and yet delightful production, which does not overwhelm with a barrage of sounds, but assigns the instrumentation an almost equal role to the voice, never cancelling each other out.

It is a terrible shame that this variety in musical styles and sounds on this album has been a blocking factor in her musical career. Born in Memphis, educated in New York, Joanna Cotton decided to move to Nashville to start her dream of a musical career. But while everyone was excited about her, the big break never seemed to happen. She seemed to be too difficult to be categorized.

But I love her music just because of this. In particular because the variety still manages to come together as one style that flows through each song on the album instead of switching styles between songs. So there is not one blues song and one rock song and one country song, instead each song has elements of all these styles (and potentially some more).

To top it off, there is an excellent song choice:

'The Big Revival', written by Dennis Linde starts off the album with its powerful gospel driven beats and the story about fire preaching Reverend Jones. It is the same song, which was a single for Montgomery Gentry from their 2008 album 'Back When I Knew It All'.

'High Maintenance' follows with a bumping, electric guitar driven, tongue-in-cheek rock song about what it takes to be good looking. True to the concept, there is even some room for a small fiddle solo in the middle, before guitar and bass take over again. What a delight!

The steam does not let off, when the 'Money Train' rolls in with its contagious beat, followed by the 'The Prize', which reminds one a little of 'Love Somebody Like You' by Keith Urban in terms of sound. It talks about finding the prize inside of a person instead of being deceived by looks only.

The first song which turns the mood to a mellow, more accoustic guitar driven sound is 'Humble Town'. A mid-tempo song which almost sounds like something this blond singer from Memphis may have painfully experienced when coming to Nashville and trying to make it there.

'Funkabilly' definitely is one of the highlights of the album and true to its name it is a pulsating mix of sounds and influences delivered by thumping bass and guitars and even some mouth harp thrown in. Joanna's voice drives it home.

'Sweat' offers more dirty guitar licks and some funky horns with seductive lyrics about turning the heat up, while 'Hasn't Happened Yet' glides into a slow down-beat blues which lets Joanna's voice cry with pain and at the same time fly high with loneliness and despair.

The album closes beautifully with the piano driven ballad 'Keep My Faith' about holding on, even when all dreams seem to fall apart. Tender and yet powerful in its will to persist against all odds.

It has been a while since the album has been released, and sad to say that it has not left much of an imprint anywhere because it simply seems to have fallen through all cracks of genres. The album can still be physically purchased via her homepage (or as mp3 version at online sources such as amazon) though. If you get a chance to visit Nashville you may even get lucky in seeing her perform.
Hopefully I will get a chance one day too.

Clearly 5 stars out of 5.

Artist: Joanna Cotten (http://www.joannacotten.com/)
Album: "Funkabilly"
Release Date: April 10th, 2008 / Producer: Peter Collins.