CANDYE KANE "SISTER VAGABOND" Source: Blues Revue Magazine Date: 01/2012 Writer: Tom Hyslop

Candye Kane "Sister Vagabond"

What a spirit, and what an album. Kane and her band, which here includes such stellar payers as James Harman (harp), Johnny V (sax), Thomas Yearsley and Kennan Shaw (bass), Stephen Hodges and Paul Fasulo (drums) and Laura Chavez and Nathan James (guitar), confidently handle a range of material. Cherry-picked songs by Steve White (the minor key, acoustic “Down With The Blues”), Johnny “Guitar” Watson, and Brenda Lee (with junkyard dog mean reimagining of “Sweet Nothin’s”) reflect the excellence of the Kane-Chavez originals, numbering among them two slow, minor numbers (the splendid Hurricane Katrina song “You Can’t Take It Back From Here” and the harrowing “Walkin’, Talkin’ Haunted House”), the jumping “Side Dish,” the “Fever”-ish “Hard Knock Gal,” a Louisiana-inspired tune or two, and the unexpected sweet soul romp, “Love Insurance.” Top to bottom, it’s a superb set, arranged and played with dynamics and finesse, and sung fabulously.

Without minimizing Kane’s remarkable achievements, her successes of late have come, as she regularly points out, with help. There is her association with the Delta.