DEANNA BOGART
JUST A WISH AWAY
BLIND PIG CD BPCD 5159
IF IT’S GONNA BE LIKE THIS–FINE BY ME GOOD BAYOU–IF YOU HAVE CRYING EYES–BACK AND FORTH KID–COLLARBONE–TIGHTROPE–WHAT IS LOVE SUPPOSED TO DO–MAYBE I WON’T–CONVERSING WITH LINCOLN–HOT FUN IN THE SUMMERTIME–BYE BYE BLACKBIRD
Deanna Bogart is one of those rare individuals who can play virtually any instrument in any style that is called for, writes her own arrangements, and her songwriting has reached a deep level of maturity and continues to improve. For her latest Blind Pig release, “Just A Wish Away,” Deanna has teamed up with a core of unbelieveably-talented musicians who make this definitely her most varied and exciting set to date. Not afraid to take chances, she takes the listener on a musical journey not unlike the one she herself took not long ago, that carried her from the Chesapeake Bay down thru Nashville, out to the desert of SoCal, and, finally, down to the Louisiana bayou, where this set was recorded.
That “big sound”leads things off with the locomotive clackety-clack of “If It’s Gonna Be Like This,” where Deanna realizes it’s “runaway time, but am I too late or too soon?” and begs the question of what might have been. This one features pedal and lap steel from Marty Rifkin. “Tightrope” follows a a funky New Orleans-style rhythm pattern, as Deanna sings of always being faced with tough choices in life, and “walking the tightrope day and night!” “Collarbone” is a horn-and-percussion-driven instrumental, and Deanna closes the set with her sax blowing a jazzy “Bye Bye Blackbird,” set over a curious marching-time beat, with acoustic guitar from Cris Jacobs.
We had two favorites, too. Deanna uses a clever play on words in the tale of developing love “down by the levee with that sweet magnolia wine,” and it’s “Fine By Me If It’s Good Bayou!” And, perhaps one of Deanna’s most poignant pieces ever is the heart-rending tale of the “Back And Forth Kid,” those displaced children forced to split their time between divorced parents, and never really grasping a life with either. It is only Deanna and her piano, and is indeed a powerful and emotion-packed song.
Deanna Bogart continues to expand her musical boundaries and is always challenging herself to defeat complacency by trying new and exciting sounds. Enjoy that special place where all your dreams are “Just a Wish Away.” Until next time…Sheryl and Don Crow, Nashville Blues Society.
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