Lady Is Lonely
Karen Carroll is one of the few women left in the blues.
Karen Carroll does not sing the blues like most women. Her gruff blasts of jazz-tinged, deep bass vocals recall the gritty tradition of Chicago bluesmen Junior Wells and Syl Johnson. It's a sound she comes by naturally. "Growing up, my voice was so deep, I couldn't sing high," says Carroll, 50,who is one of only two women—the otheris Koko Taylor—headlining the Chicago Blues Festival in June.
What's happened to all of the women in the blues? Despite the key role played by Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Ida Cox in the 1920s, contemporary blues remains largely a man's domain in terms of both musicians and fans. Carroll's own blues pedigree flows from her mother, Jeanne Carroll, a noted Chicago musician who performed with Muddy Waters. "She didn't want me playing music because it was too hard," says Carroll, who sneaked into South Side clubs anyway without her mother's approval. When Carroll was 17, her godmother, the late blues belter Bonnie Lee, coaxed the teen onstage to sing. "My mommy gave me a look that said, ‘You got a lot of nerve,'" she recalls. "But over the years, she saw it as not such a bad thing."
In the early 1990s, Carroll followed her mother to Europe, where she makes a good living playing only four nights a month.
"Blues is a courageous music, and I'm happy to be a conveyor," she says. "But blues has to evolve so that it continues to touch people"—hence her recent forays into hip-hop and her decision to enlist her son for a guest rapper spot at Blues Fest on Sunday, June 8th.
Photography:Courtesy of Karen Carroll
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Carolyn Wonderland
6/25
Fitzgerald's
6615 Roosevelt Road
Berwyn, IL 60402
8:30pm
“Carolyn Wonderland is the real deal”~ Los Angeles Times
“A dollop of Janis Joplin, a slice of Stevie Ray Vaughan, and a big load of soulful individuality… that’s Wonderland, a seething-hot Texas singer-guitarist. And she can write, too! Produced by Asleep at the Wheel’s Ray Benson, Miss Understood focuses on tough yet vulnerable blues, but also captures the melodic soul of classic American song…No wonder Dylan is an avowed fan.” ~ Daniel Gewertz, Boston Herald
Bismeaux Records is proud to announce that Carolyn Wonderland will be touring extensively in 2008 to support her new CD release, Miss Understood. Gig highlights include California’s High Sierra Music Festival, the Rochester (N.Y.) International Jazz Festival, the Playing with Fire Festival in Nebraska, and Canada’s Salmon Arms Roots & Blues Festival. She will be making festival appearances Norway in September, and hosting the fifth annual Wonderjam in Amsterdam, Netherlands in November.
Also, Carolyn has been selected to perform for her hometown’s most famous musical export, Austin City Limits (to be broadcast in the Fall of 2008 on PBS Television).
Produced by nine-time Grammy winner Ray Benson, Miss Understood has helped one of Austin’s best-kept secrets burst onto the national scene. It was just a matter of time, as her critically acclaimed 2003 release Bloodless Revolution, as well as a run of legendary live shows, has established her as the heir-apparent of Texas blues legends.
The Austin Chronicle calls Miss Understood “a mighty and joyous performance.” The record has been a top-10 seller at Austin’s famed Waterloo Records since its release, and is enjoying national chart status for Americana radio airplay.