MARCIA BALL
''IN THE FLESH!: THE TATTOOED LADY AND THE ALLIGATOR MAN''
SEPTEMBER 23 2014
42:44
1 - The Tattooed Lady and the Alligator Man 3:35
2 - Clean My House 3:25
3 - Just Keep Holding On 3:11
4 - Like There's No Tomorrow 3:31
5 - He's the One 4:10
6 - The Squeeze Is On 3:30
7 - Hot Springs 3:26
8 - Human Kindness 3:07
9 - Can't Blame Nobody But Myself 3:43
10 - Lazy Blues 4:17
11 - Get You a Woman 2:48
Marcia Ball: Piano, Vocals
Don Bennett: Bass
Damien Llanes: Drums
Michael Schermer: Guitar
Thad Scott: Tenor Saxophone
Roscoe Beck: Bass on "The Last To Know," "Clean My House," and "Human Kindness"
Delbert McClinton: Harmonica on "Can’t Blame Nobody But Myself"
Red Young: B-3 on "Get You A Woman," "Human Kindness," and "Hot Springs"
Terrance Simien: Accordion, Harmony Vocals on "The Squeeze Is On"
Thad Scott: Tenor Sax/Mark "Kaz" Kazanoff: Baritone Sax on "Just Keep Holding On," "Get You A Woman," "He's The One" and "Like There's No Tomorrow"
Plus
Jimmy Shortell: Trumpet/Randy Zimmerman: Trombone on "The Tattooed Lady And The Alligator Man," "The Last To Know" and "Clean My House"
Horn arrangements by Thad Scott
Tom Hambridge: Harmony Vocals, Tambourine on "Hot Springs"
Shelley King, Carolyn Wonderland and Amy Helm: Harmony Vocals on "Human Kindness"
Wendy Moten: Harmony Vocals on "Like There's No Tomorrow” and "Just Keep Holding On"
Van Mouton: Alligator man, Frottoir on "The Squeeze Is On"
REVIEW
by Mark Deming
Austin-based pianist and singer Marcia Ball began her solo career in earnest with the 1984 album Soulful Dress, and thirty years later, she's still pounding out the blues and boogie on The Tattooed Lady and the Alligator Man. The biggest challenge of a career that's been chugging along for more than three decades is keeping things fresh, and while The Tattooed Lady doesn't blaze many new trails, the album proves Ball's mojo is still working as a songwriter and a piano player, and she clearly hasn't run out of things to say. Ball knows how to get the good times rolling on tunes like "Like There's No Tomorrow," and can spin a tall tale on the rollicking title cut, but she can turn serious when she feels like it, particularly on the recession story "The Squeeze is On" and the closing tale of love gone wrong, "The Last To Know." Ball hasn't lost her knack for melodies that fuse the spark of Texas blues with the steady roll of New Orleans R&B, and her keyboard work is as sure footed as ever, offering her own signature take on the boogie that should fill your personal dance floor in short order. Ball's backing band is in fine form as well, especially guitarist Michael Schermer (who also helped write two songs) and sax man Thad Scott, and they get some help from Terrance Simien, who plays accordion on "The Squeeze is On," and Delbert McClinton, who lends a harmonica solo to "Can't Blame Nobody But Myself." If Ball's voice is starting to show a bit of wear around the edges, her phrasing is as good as ever, and the confidence and drive of these performances is infectious. There's no stopping Marcia Ball, and The Tattooed Lady and the Alligator Man confirms that's good news for blues fans and piano aficionados; this is the work of a veteran whose skills are genuinely on point.
BIOGRAPHY
By Richard Skelly
Pianist and singer/songwriter Marcia Ball is a living example of how East Texas blues meets southwest Louisiana swamp rock. Ball was born March 20, 1949, in Orange, Texas, but grew up across the border in Vinton, LA. That town is squarely in the heart of "the Texas triangle," an area that includes portions of both states and that has produced some of the country's greatest blues talents: Janis Joplin, Johnny and Edgar Winter, Queen Ida Guillory, Lonnie Brooks, Zachary Richard, Clifton Chenier, and Kenny Neal, to name a few. Ball's earliest awareness of blues came over the radio, where she heard people like Irma Thomas, Professor Longhair, and Etta James, all of whom she now credits as influences. She began playing piano at age five, learning from her grandmother and aunt and also taking formal lessons from a teacher.
Ball entered Louisiana State University in the late '60s as an English major; in college, she played in the psychedelic rock & roll band Gum. In 1970, Ball and her first husband were headed West in their car to San Francisco, but the car needed repairs in Austin, where they had stopped off to visit one of their former bandmates. After experiencing some of the music, sights, and food in Austin, the two decided to stay there. Ball has been based in Austin ever since.
Her piano style, which mixes equal parts boogie-woogie with zydeco and Louisiana swamp rock, is best exemplified on her series of excellent recordings for the Rounder label. They include Soulful Dress (1983), Hot Tamale Baby (1985), Gatorhythms (1989), and Blue House (1994). Also worthy of checking out is her collaboration with Angela Strehli and Lou Ann Barton on the Antone's label, Dreams Come True (1990). Ball, like her peer Strehli, is an educated business woman fully aware of all the realities of the record business. Ball never records until she feels she's got a batch of top-notch, quality songs. Most of the songs on her albums are her own creations, so songwriting is a big part of her job description.
Although Ball is a splendid piano player and a more than adequate vocalist, "the songwriting process is the most fulfilling part of the whole deal for me," she said in a 1994 interview, "so I always keep my ears and eyes open for things I might hear or see ... I like my songs to go back to blues in some fashion." As much a student of the music as she is a player, some of Ball's albums include covers of material by O.V. Wright, Dr. John, Joe Ely, Clifton Chenier, and Shirley & Lee.
In the late '90s, Ball released her final discs under the Rounder banner, Let Me Play With Your Poodle (1997) and Sing It! (1998). The latter featured Ball with Irma Thomas and Tracy Nelson, including both solo performances and combined energy that generated much exposure for all three women when it was nominated for both a Grammy and a W.C. Handy Blues Award as Best Contemporary Blues Album. After earning critical praise for her Rounder recordings, Ball signed with the well-respected blues label Alligator Records in 2000 and released her first album for the label, Presumed Innocent, in 2001. While maintaining a busy touring schedule, playing clubs and festivals throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe, Ball still found time to visit the recording studio on a regular basis, with Alligator releasing So Many Rivers in 2003, the live album Down the Road in 2005, Peace, Love & BBQ in 2008, and Roadside Attractions in 2011. For the 2014 release The Tattooed Lady and the Alligator Man, Ball brought along a few special guests, including Texas blues veteran Delbert McClinton, Cajun accordion ace Terrance Simien, and frequent Leonard Cohen collaborator Roscoe Beck.
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