CANDYE KANE "SUPERHERO" Source: LA Weekly Date: 12/2009 Writer: Falling James

The San Diego blues belter Candye Kane easily lives up to the title of her ninth album, Superhero (Delta Groove Music). Not only has she recovered from pancreatic cancer, she’s used the stuff of that awful experience to infuse the lyrics of original songs like “Hey! Toughen Up!” and “Don’t Cry for Me New Jersey” with a shot of positive energy, wicked humor and soulful defiance. “I’m going to be just fine,” Kane declares. “I’m going to live till a hundred and nine . . . a white-haired lady with a lot of soul.” She’s actually more obsessed about a different, more incurable disease — doctors refer to it as a broken heart — in such tunes as “I Didn’t Listen to My Heart.” This wondrous woman even uses all of her superpowers to rescue Willie Dixon’s “You Need Love” from memories of Led Zeppelin’s plagiarized desecration “Whole Lotta Love,” giving it a primal, seductively funky blues beat. Kane’s guitarist/co-songwriter Laura Chavez and guests like the Hacienda Brothers’ Dave Gonzales, Tom Waits sideman Stephen Hodges and the Fabulocos’ Kid Ramos lay down a variety of swinging and jazzy blues for the kittenish Ms. Kane to roll around and revel in.