Best surprise disc of the year?
Lisa Mills grew up in the South on soul and gospel.
I’ve always heard that there are no accidents. Sometimes, though, you wonder why; other times it all makes sense somehow.
I received a CD and bio in the mail from my friend and former co-worker Mark Pucci. A publicist in Atlanta, Mark represents all kinds of musicians, but specializes in the blues. I opened the package when it arrived a week or two ago, but put it aside. This week, while trying to figure out what I would write about on this page, I saw the disc and began reading the bio. After reading just the first two paragraphs, I knew I would be writing about Lisa Mills — and I hadn’t even listened to the record.
Originally from south Mississippi, Lisa made her way to England where she began performing at music festivals throughout Europe. She hooked up with bassist Ian Jennings (Jeff Beck, Van Morrison) and toured the UK for almost a decade. For her new album, “Tempered In Fire,” Lisa and Jennings were joined by Andy Fairweather Low (Amen Corner, Eric Clapton, George Harrison) on guitar and drummer Eric Heigle, who hails from New Orleans. Together they have created an album of ten songs by writers from her native South as well as Britain, which complement her own songs.
To go back even further, Lisa grew up on gospel and soul music and began writing songs before she was old enough to start school. Her daddy was into Hank Williams and her mother loved Elvis (and still does). Destined to perform, Lisa poured her heart into writing, singing and playing guitar. Her vocal influences range from Etta James to Brenda Lee, but after listening to this disc, I would suggest Lisa Mills is a cross between Janis Joplin and Bonnie Bramlett. And those are some pretty big high heels to fill.
Her very first CD, “Blues and Ballads,” was recorded live in Pascagoula, Mississippi, and a friend who knew of Lisa’s potential sent a copy of the CD to Sam Andrews of Big Brother & the Holding Company (Joplin’s old band). That move landed Lisa her first international gig in Germany and a three-year tour as Big Brother’s lead singer. It was that European connection that led her to meet Jennings and then Roy Williams, sound engineer for Robert Plant, who both encouraged her to pursue a solo career.
“Tempered in Fire,” was released in Europe in 2010 and just released in the States last month, and is actually Lisa’s second album collaboration with Jennings, who co-produced her 2005 CD, “I’m Changing.”
Most of the tracks on “Tempered in Fire” were recorded live in the studio with little or no overdubbing. The opening tune, “Tennessee Tears,” features stand up bass, spare drumming and tasty guitar licks and solo by Low. Her vocal is raw and emotionally powerful, and sets the tone for the music that is to follow.
Funky, funky, funky is the best way to describe her arrangement of the 1974 Wet Willie top ten hit “Keep on Smiling.” Tasty Memphis style horns accentuate the track, never over playing, just spot on when needed. The entire song has been reworked, making it sound brand new.
“Blue Guitars of Texas” is the first of three songs by George Borowski, a songwriter and guitarist friend of Lisa who lives in England and whose contributions to this disc are outstanding. His other two songs are “I Will Never Fall in Love Again” and the disc’s closing tune, “Someone Very Close.” And Lisa Mills works all three songs with her blues voice and phrasing that make each one a unique classic. “I Will Never Fall in Love Again” just percolates right along, building and building, with a very cool rockabilly feel to it. You almost think that Carl Perkins has replaced Andy Fairweather Low on the track. The third Borowski song, “Someone Very Close” is a well-written cheating song with a cool arrangement. “Someone very close is saying, that I’ve been running around with someone new, oh God it’s not true,” she sings, and you believe every word of what she is saying.
Then there is the title track, “Tempered in Fire,” that starts out slow and smoky like it’s three o’clock in the morning, with just Low’s tasty guitar playing against Jennings’s bass. And when she sings, “So let me know, baby, that you still care, and when I call you up, you’d better be there,” you know she means it! This track has a Muscle Shoals feel to it and is more than five minutes of musical joy.
She does a very convincing version of Otis Redding’s very first single “These Arms of Mine,” backed with just Low’s tasty guitar work. No drums, bass or horns. Simple, basic, listen to the words and feel her pain, music.
“Countryside of Life” is another song originally recorded by Wet Willie and written by the band’s guitarist Rick Hirsch. This swampy version sounds like a Tony Joe White song. The song started out as a pop ditty in the ‘70s for Wet Willie, was recorded by country band Alabama in the ‘80s and is now given new life by Lisa and her band, again, making it her own. Slowed down that way it is done here, you realize what a brilliantly written song it truly is.
All in all, “Tempered in Fire” is the best surprise disc I have uncovered in many years. It is a stellar performance by a singer I certainly hope to hear a lot more of, and backed by a lean and mean band who knows how far to push and when to lay back. This one will be playing in my car for a long, long time.