Soulful Femme – Attitude
Sky Dog Studios
11 songs time – 45:53
Pretty much a dynamic duo of music is the essence of Soulful Femme. The smooth and soulful vocals of Stevee Wellons combined with the creative guitar skills of Cheryl Rinovato mesh for a truly enjoyable musical experience. They wrote nine out of the eleven songs to boot. Their core band is tight as a bull’s butt and they get outside help from Albert Castiglia (guitar-producer), Tommy Castro (vocals), Kevin Burt (Vocals) and Mark Earley (ex-Roomful Of Blues-tenor saxophone). Their sound encompasses blues, R&B, soul, rock, jazz, and who knows what else.
They dig right in on the title track with Stevee’s commanding voice set against a mighty guitar riff by Cheryl. A really strong kick-off to a quality recording. Albert guests on guitar. Michael Bram keeps up a nasty shuffle beat to a stop and start guitar riff on “Not Like You”, once again with Albert. Kevin Burt teams up for a powerful duet on Willie Dixon’s “Insane Asylum”. Their gospel charged voices play well against each other. Stevee adds a brief spoken section midway through.
Cheryl contributes some great meandering wah-wah guitar on the funky “Can’t Get There From Here”. Jazzy guitar permeates the mellow R&B of “Breathe Again” on which Stevee provides her own background vocals as well. Cheryl turns in another well-crafted guitar solo to compliment Stevee’s vocal on the R&B charged “Loser’s Game”. Tommy Castro comes close to a James Brown impersonation on Brown’s needless to say funky “Talkin’ Loud And Sayin’ Nothing” as he duets with Stevee. Albert Castiglia appears again on guitar.
Stevee commits one her strongest vocals over wah-wah guitar on “Walk Out”. Matt Raymond’s sturdy bass line gels perfectly with the horns on “Dysfunction Funk”. “Crazy” is a dissertation on getting over dark times. Another powerful bass line on “Time To Walk” that ruminates on the end of a relationship. The creative drumming locks in with the funky rhythm guitar.
Basically, this is Rythm & Blues music that is infused with various other musical elements. The musicians along with the production of Albert Castiglia and engineering of Dave Gross create a satisfying musical experience. Stevee Wellons voice is strong and emotionally charged. Cheryl Rinovato creates guitar atmospheres to suit each song. This is really good stuff.
