Bex Marshall – Fortuna
Dixie Frog Records
10 tracks
Bex Marshall is a UK British Blues Award winner and has been nominated four times for European Blues Awards. Her vocals blend rock diva and the pain of a sharecropper into a rocking blues mélange of music. Her slide, lead and other guitar style is in your face and up front and personal. She delivers nine original and one cover on her latest release, all hot and heavy performances.
Bex Marshall handles all the lead and most backing vocals and all things guitars. Toby Baker is on the keys and organs. Robert Eugene Daniels plays bass on five cuts. On drums is Richie Stevens. BJ Cole plays dobro. Shola Adegoroye sings Gospel backing vocals. Danny Bryan is on congas, darbuka, and percussion.
“Preaching To The Choir” gets the ball rolling. It’s a straight up rock tune with a nice groove. Marshall sings with her angst filled voice and her guitar riffs soar. “Dirty Water” follows, the lone cover. It’s a slow, breathy delivery of slow blues that builds a bit into a mid tempo rocker. Marshall continues her emotive stuff and her guitars play off each other in the mix and are featured heavily. Next is “I Can’t Look You In The Eye” which is a bigger rocking cut that Bex lays it all out on. “4 – 5am” follows that, a mellow and somber piece with lots of guitar and organ and Marshall again singing with her passionate style.
“Jungle” is a rollicking and bouncy fun song with a driving beat and ringing and stinging guitars. Then it’s “Table for One” which shifts gears into an emotive and somewhat thoughtful cut about sitting and eating alone. Guitars again are up front and featured. The title track is up next. This one is another driving rocker with a big guitar intro that continues turns into a slick and tasty instrumental delivered in an almost frantic pace.
“Lay Down and Die” follows with more big, rocking guitar and Marshall belting out the vocals. Heavy stuff. Next is “Scrapyard Dog” where Marshall takes things down a few notches and delivers a slow blues rocker with passion and aplomb. Concluding the album is “When Its Gone” is a lighter tune with dobro and slide and just an airy feel to it. It’s a slick change of pace and cool conclusion to the album.
Marshall’s rocking style of music is no holds barred. She delivers her songs with lots of feeling and plays the hell out of her guitars. The songs are all interesting and well crafted. The sound is not over-produced and showcases her and her band-mates skills. If you are into blues rock, this one certainly may be right up your alley!
