Comfort to the Soul in Bloomington, MN

These days, purists are becoming increasingly difficult to find in the
blues
world -- at least if you define a
purist as someone who believes that anything he/she performs must adhere to a 12-bar structure. So many of the bluesmen who were hailed as promising newcomers in the '80s or '90s --
Robert Cray
,
Michael Hill
, the late
Stevie Ray Vaughan
, among others -- were heavily influenced by
soul
rock
, or both. Ask a lot of younger
artists who their influences are, and they just might mention
Jimi Hendrix
Otis Redding
Led Zeppelin
, or
Aretha Franklin
along with
Muddy Waters
Buddy Guy
, and
John Lee Hooker
. One of the more promising
-friendly artists of the 2000s,
Ana Popovic
is far from a
purist -- truth be told, her second album
Comfort to the Soul
has as much to do with
funk
jazz
as it does with the
. Of course, many non-purists would argue that the
are really about a feeling more than 12 bars -- and anyone who shares that perspective will agree that the Yugoslavian performer brings a wealth of
feeling to the table whether she is rocking out on
"Fool Proof,"
making some
moves on the title track, or showing her jazzy side on the instrumental
"Navajo Mood"
and an inspired remake of
Steely Dan
's
"Night by Night."
The fact that
Popovic
includes a
cover and
Howlin' Wolf
"Sittin' on Top of the World"
on the same album is quite revealing -- it underscores the fact that even though the
obviously mean a lot to her, she sees no reason to deprive herself of the pleasures that other musical idioms offer.
showed considerable promise on her debut album
Hush!
, and there are no signs of a sophomore slump on this excellent follow-up. ~ Alex Henderson