* New Album *

‘Refugee’

Recorded over a period of 9 months, the stunning new album ‘Refugee’ is a perfect showcase of the different styles and genres loved by The Delta Ladies and highlights the multi-instrumental skills of Vicky and Diana, with the added bonus of all the musicians mentioned above.

Hard Drive Promotions’ MD Dave Holmes has reviewed the album, whilst our resident blogger Mary Mac Thomais has given us some of her own thoughts about The Delta Ladies on her page The Blue Celtic Moon. In the meantime, here’s what fans, critics and venue owners have to say about The Delta Ladies and the new album.

 

Delta Ladies: REFUGEE

 

"The Delta Ladies, Vicky Martin and Diana Stone, first emerged as a cleverly-named duo offshoot of the band Elephant Shelf, veterans of many gigs around the London blues circuit and beyond in the noughties and teens of the 21st century.

The Shelf are now history, but these “ladies of dubious origin” as they style themselves, are still going strong. Stronger than ever, in fact.

Vicky Martin and Dee Stone generally gig as a duo, but when the occasion requires, can also draw on a diverse cast of musicians, notably percussionists/drummers Lee Collins and Danny Bryan, bass player Glynn Evans, singer Anita Mazzotta and Alan Glen, harmonica player extraordinaire to everyone from Nine Below Zero to the Yardbirds.

This is the basic “team” the Ladies field to quite splendid effect on their new album, Refugee, making it easily the best thing they have done to date in this reviewer’s opinion.

“Vintage New Orleans rhythm & blues, Americana, swing, rock & roll, bluegrass and American roots music” is the way the Ladies describe the breadth of their canvas on their website. On Refugee, however, they add a strong Indian flavour, courtesy of those two percussionists.

The result, on tracks such as ‘Devil Calling Out My Name’, ‘Last Train’, and the title track, is a haunting, trance-like combination of Vicky Martin’s droning acoustic guitar rhythms, Asian percussion, Dee Stone’s soaring, sweeping and weaving violin and Alan Glen’s tuneful and always tasteful harp contributions.

This approach carries across to what is probably my favourite track on the album, the Ladies’ very individual approach to the only non-original song on the album, ‘Rising Sun’. A close relative to a certain “trad arr” standard about “…a house in New Orleans”, this version is more New Delhi than N’Awlins in sound…but none the worse for that!

The old Elephant Shelf tune, ‘In Trouble Again’, gets a dusting off, too, this time as ‘More Trouble’. It gets a western swing treatment with some nice pedal steel stylings from John Davis, while the strumalong ‘Hellbound’ takes the Ladies deeper into C&W territory, with Dee Stone sawing away like good ‘un on the fiddle and Alan Glen putting in some rather lovely country licks on harp.

This is most categorically not a blues album. Then again, there’s a lot on Refugee to be enjoyed by blues fans – especially those who have been enchanted by Ry Cooder’s frequent sideways glances at the blues via a variety of world musics.

Nice work, Ladies!"

TIM AVES
Presenter of the award winning ‘The Blues is Back’ on Saint FM radio 93.5FM

 

“I really love the new album – reminds us of Rory Gallagher when he did his

Cajun thing, the road crew are now playing it in their car – well done – it’s

easily the best thing I’ve heard in ages”

Larry Miller

 

“Congratulations on an excellent atmospheric album.... of all the albums I

had for Christmas, I picked yours and copied it onto my mp3 player to listen

too as I walked the dog on Boxing Day morning. There was a misty type

of cloud cover, the sun was just a blurred dot in the sky, I had your album

playing in my ears and it felt like a moment from the film Paris Texas. One

magical moment was during the intro to Refugee a Red Kite glided quite

low toward and over me, creating one of those quite magical moments. It’s

an awesome album, thank you”.

William Kee – music fan

“I didn't write it very well, but suffice to say your album and that walk will

forever be intertwined in my mind”

 

“Love the album, lovely flavours, quite psychedelic in places, shades of

Zeppelin with Fred Neal sensibility”

 Tali Trow (The Coal Porters)

 

“Loving the new album....to me there’s very North African influence,

Alan Glen is a superb and that new instrument, the Kandela that you've

got...brilliant”

 Clive Rawlings of Blues Matters

 

“Loved your gig on Friday night in Rye! Thank you for bringing the weekend

in on a high!” Kx

Karen Rawlinson – music fan

 

“They’re really good – the rock & roll stuff is just great”

Howling Dick – DJ

 

“I LOVE it Vicky...I just love the authenticity of the instruments, hypnotic

vibe,,, excellent! It sounds so authentically down-ome Americana. I never

expected it sound like thatI wasnt expecting it to be so trance like and

hypnotic!!...honestly its a rare thing when I put a CD on and just go yeah

thats it!!! Thats what the universe wants me to be into at the moment!!! “

Steve Pearce – music critic

 

“You guys have taken one of the best songs ever, turned it inside out and

completely renewed it – brilliant, I was knocked out!”

Quote from a fan listening to House of the Rising Sun at the Halfway

House Barnes

 

“A distinctive sound with resonances that go way back”

Proprietor -Cambridge Folk Club

 

"The best roots & rhythm & blues act in London”

Olivier Revault – proprietor Oliver’s Jazz Bar Greenwich

 

"A stunning fusion of Roots, Americana and World rhythms"
Blues in Britain

 

"The playing is amazing all round.  There is no doubt the Ladies can mix it with the very best "
Del Day - ARK PR (Sussex)

 

"A  brilliant  release -  destined  to garner a wholly new fan base. Authentic,  deep South Americana sounds...."
Dale Storr  (Leading UK New Orleans style pianist)

 

"They were a revelation, a breath of fresh air... "
Simon Constant
Proprietor Bar Gabariers
St. Simeux (Fr)

 

"An hors d’oevre of instruments, musical styles and original earthy songs
played with passion by the reborn (literally) Delta Ladies with a stellar cast
of great musicians, notably Alan Glen on harmonica. Their best  recording yet of which they should be justifiably proud."

Tony Bell
Booker - Promoter Brooks Blues Posk Jazz London Cafe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s a really good read!

 DELTA LADIES  Interviewed for GREEK AMERICANA, ROOTS & BLUES WEBSITE

 

Vicky Martin & Diana Stone

What do you learn about yourself from the blues and what does the blues mean to you?

"We are really most interested in Americana & Roots music - blues is  just one of the wells that we draw from – we take from the whole range of roots & Americana music – that’s country / bluegrass and folk as well – plus we take a lot from the field of jazz, swing and New Orleans – not that we especially play jazz, but we do approach music with a jazz mentality – we like to improvise and stretch tunes around. We like to take a chance by changing the harmony; we’ll try Stormy Monday using major 7 chords instead of 7ths, or we’ll substitute different chords within the song.  We consider that the blues is a soul thing – a feeling –we find it in a wide range of music – Hank Williams / Louis Jordan / John Coltrane / Tom Waits / Billie Holiday so many places. We also learn that we get easily bored – that’s why we keep on moving and experimenting – and we like a lot of Real Ale along the way."

 

How do you describe your sound and progress, what characterizes DELTA LADIES BAND philosophy?

"Our fundamental philosophy is to entertain the people and drink real ale – wherever we play –We don’t like to stay in the same place musically, we like to explore different songs and music – we never copy the original but we like to draw from the original source for our inspiration– so for instance when we do ‘All Along  the Watchtower’ we forget about the Hendrix version and listen to Dylan – we’ll try it slowed down with a fiddle solo instead of a guitar solo – or we’ll try a different guitar tuning – renaissance tuning (third string down to F#) gives an interesting twist. Or we’ll listen to some New Orleans – take a rhythm or riff and then expand it and try and write something on it, or we’ll just go for a drink."

 

.Which is the most interesting period in your life? Which was the best and worst moment of your career?  

"The most interesting hasn’t been the easiest but for both of us since we were able to play and do music full-time it’s been a fascinating struggle – to grow and develop as performers as artistes in a time when economics mitigate against music and creativity as possibly never before, its also been interesting to see how real ale has developed as a popular drink in the UK"

 

Why did you think that the Jazz and Blues music continues to generate such a devoted following?

"Because its music that speaks from the heart to the heart – you can express the deepest things or the greatest joys – it’s inexhaustible in its possibilities – like a sea in which an ant can drink and an elephant can drown. It can be like that but it often isn’t"

 

What’s the best jam you ever played in? What are some of the most memorable gigs you've had?

"We tend to gig around 130 /150 times a year so we don’t get time to go to jam sessions – if we do then we like a little refreshment from blues and go to a world music/roots jam session of which there are some in London"

 

Which meetings have been the most important experiences for you? What is the best advice ever given you?

"Meetings? Well we went to Wilco Johnson’s house and that was great – he confirmed what we believe – do it your way – there aren’t any rules and if you wanna be noticed do it different – that’ s probably one of the best bits of advice. The other is something our Mums told us – ‘always wear a clean pair of knickers’

 

Are there any memories from recording and show time which you’d like to share with us?

"From recording? Yes that drummers and bass players can be a total pain in the butt – our memories of this aren’t good – neither would they be for the drummers and bass players we’ve had to sack…

From live shows? Well it was great meeting Larry Garner he was a right laugh, Chris Farlowe too –he was very funny – best of all is Alan Glen – he plays with us on various dates now and is a superb musician and easily the best harmonica player around…and that beer makes many things more bearable"

 

What do you miss most nowadays from the old days of music? What are your hopes and fears for the future of?

"We miss the days when there were many more venues, when the money was better, when there were less boring guitar trios, most of all we miss the days when London was real hive of live music because now it’s the pits there’s hardly anywhere left to play – a tragedy for a city that was once so alive"

 

Which memory from Larry Garner, Chris Farlowe, Earl Jackson, Alan Glen and Gwyn Ashton makes you smile?

"Larry Garner said something so funny it killed us – but we can’t repeat it. Otherwise it was Gwyn Ashton telling us about the history of vegetarianism and the Independence for Kidderminster movement;  he also explained the difference between vegetarianism & veganism and we told him about the difference between sirloin steak & rump!"

 

What are the lines that connect the legacy of Blues with Skiffle and continue to Swing, Bluegrass and Roots?

"Three words – swing / soul / pentatonic – these things are the roots that connect all those musics and all the folk musics of the world"

 

What does it mean to be a blueswoman in a “Man’s, Man’s World” as James Brown says?

"We don’t call ourselves blueswomen –we call ourselves musicians and entertainers – that’s our job"

 

Let’s take a trip with a time machine, so where and why would you really wanna go for a whole day..?

"To the day we met Jimmy Hendrix at Manor House North London in 1967 – we’d like to ask him more questions – and also tell him to be very careful when in Notting Hill…"