Sandy Carroll – Love On it
12 songs – 52 minutes
In the bio on her website, Memphis singer-songwriter-pianist Sandy Carroll wryly notes the difficulties people (and particularly record companies) have had in categorizing her music, and on the evidence of Love On It, it’s not hard to see why. There are liberal doses of soul, pop, country, gospel, rock and even some highly enjoyable 80s-influences. Underpinning everything however is a soul and a voice soaked in the blues. Carroll and her producer/engineer (and husband), Jim Gaines, call it “Smooth Blues”, which is as good a description as any. What is safe to say is that the music on Love On It should appeal to a wide audience, not just blues fans.
Carroll assembled a top notch band to record Love On It, including Mark Narmore on piano and guitar, Steve Potts on drums, Will McFarlane on guitar and bass, Dave Smith on bass and Kimberlie Helton on backing vocals. Carroll added some piano herself and guest musicians included Buddy Leach on saxophone, and Ernest Williamson and Rick Steff on organ. And these musicians expertly turn their hands to a variety of musical styles, providing unobtrusive but powerful support throughout.
The upbeat opening title track has an irresistible gospel-rock bounce to it, with unusual but highly effective key changes regularly surprising the listener. The pop-rock of the double-entendre laden “Heart Full Of Honey” leads nicely into the swamp groove of “Don’t Rattle Them Bones”, on which Mark Narmore layers some seriously minimalist guitar and keyboard lines.
Carroll’s sultry, warm voice is a consistent highlight of the album, whether restrained and contained (as in the 80s pop of “Hurt So Hard” or the Journeyman-era Clapton-esque “Baby Blue”) or raw and openly emotional, as on the soul ballad “Soul Of The Heart” (which features a fine sax solo from Buddy Leach).
The rocky “Blindsided” benefits from Potts’ jagged drumming, which fits the 80s pop-rock instrumentation perfectly, while the loping gospel shuffle of “Gonna Come A Day” is perhaps the closest Carroll gets to straight ahead blues on Love On It, but even here the heavy gospel influence and unusual chord changes mark the song out as something different. McFarlane’s melodic guitar solo is beautiful, in interesting contrast to the grittier tone and approach he adopts on the social media commentary of “Preacher Man”.
One of the highlights of the album is the piano-driven closing track, “Gotta Hand It To You”, a heartfelt ballad of gratitude and appreciation.
Love On It may not contain any obvious blues songs, but the blues permeates everything Sandy Carroll does. She is a superb singer and a fine songwriter (she wrote eight of the 12 songs on the album, Mark Narmore contributing the others). Expertly produced and engineered by Jim Gaines at Bessie Blues Studio in Stantonville, Tennessee, and Euphonics Mastering in Memphis, Tennessee, this is the kind of album one puts on late at night and enjoys with the beverage of one’s choice.
