With a few strong albums already under her belt, Boston’s blues-roots fiddle player and vocalist Ilana Katz Katz has penned 10 strong originals and one strong interpretation of a traditional number for her most powerful work yet, In My Mind. Katz fuses all of her blues, roots, and Appalachian influences into a consistent sound that matches and heightens her lyrical vision.
Katz opens the album with title track “In My Mind,” a hip, mid-tempo blues breeze. Complete with Katz’s mellow fiddle swipes, and Johnny Burgin’s loose, brittle lead guitar line, Katz applies her soft, subtle voice to this with a smoothness that matches her fiddle motions as well as the timing of Burgin’s twisty lead. It’s a likable song that makes one want to hum or sing along to its airy moves.
“Woman, Play The Blues” lets Katz show how well she can fit her vocal parts in between a near-funk open space groove. She slides her gentle voice while bowing a sorrowful weep from her fiddle. Burgin’s cascade of notes slaps the song forward, intervals that punctuate the song while filling in the melody line. Katz moves into some scat singing, heightening the build up of tension. Its rocking chair groove, meanwhile, keeps the listener comfortably seated in the middle of all this hip action, a favored place to be.
Katz goes toe to toe with guitarist Matt Isbell on the intense mourner “Nine Souls.” Dire tones from Katz’s fiddle, sometimes at a running pace, creates the perfect sense of flight from fight. She sings with a halting dread, only enough at a time to emphasize her point. Fallen souls and dire fates dot the landscape of the lyrical intrigue here. Meanwhile, Katz’s fiddle line plays with a dark tone until someone’s fate stops all motion and sound. Perfect.
“Won’t Pass Me By” finds Katz playing a lively, upbeat fiddle line, her up and down motions recalling many other jaunty melodies from yesteryear. Supported by and contrasted with guitarist’s Burgin’s sturdy, flinty chord progression, that fiddle bounces on air, as if suspended above the guitar rhythm. Katz applies her soft vocal timbre like a gentle hopscotch across the instruments and the pleasant breezy feel they leave in their wake.
A bouncy groove gives “It’s Time To Go” a fun, party vibe. Not only do the drums and low end pump out a thick nudge of movement, Katz fiddles a sassy line, suggesting she is restless. She needs to get to a party or a bar or a better one than she’s already at. This piece works well towards giving a sense of desire, a desire to be in a better place. Thin, whisper fiddle lines makes us feel Katz’s buzzing to leave. Guitarist Burgin’s twitchy, nervous string of notes increases the neurotic need here, and it all comes together in a thick wad of hip expression.
“Downtown With The Devil” lets Katz have fun with bad things that make us feel good. Contrasting her easy going vocal with her tense fiddle bowing, Katz conjures the down and dirty vibe that blues music is all about, especially when the artist brings the devil into it. Katz scats neurotically, perfectly capturing the need to break her spell.
Slow boil blues number “Ain’t No Way” lets Katz lead with a strong, determined vocal line. Her voice nudges things along with a persistent strength while keeping the listener glued with its cool, soft timbre. Her droning fiddle line fills the space usually held by a harmonica, sounding just as persistently mournful and weepy. Burgin’s crunchy guitar rhythm, Chris Matheos bulbous bass line, and drummer Stephen Dougherty backbeat percussion keep this thickly and nicely settled into a two step motion.
A voodoo drenched fiddle colors “Bad Child” dark. Katz’s deadpan delivery turns her soft timbre into a warning of damnation. While she lays down the fiddle in the midst of a mischievous groove, like a snake unfurling, guitarist Burgin flicks off a flinty rhythm, a hip movement of notes. A call and response from vocalists Matt Isbell and Kevin Houston complete this summoning of a doomed soul.
“Well, Well Blues” delves into the mid-tempo rocking chair groove side of blues. Katz’s fiddle is a Sunday morning easy feeling fullness. Sounding like a sweet harmonica, it dovetails with her soft vocal timbre as well as the backing bands polite injections of groove and soulful guitar picking. Katz’s voice has always been as unique as her including a fiddle in her blues songs. Her unusual vocal and her roots feel for the fiddle make this and the rest of her album a special product.
The traditional “Hangman’s Reel” is a foot stomping joy. Appealing to fans of Celtic, Appalachian, and country barn dance music, Katz plays at a brisk pace and rings as much fun out of her tones as humanly possible. The fiddle’s timbre calls out to people to get onto the barn floor while a tambourine flavored hoof beat makes one want to move one’s feet.
Close out track “If” belly crawls down tempo style. Massaging warm notes out of her fiddle and applying her ever so soft vocal timbre, Katz oozes with philosophical questions and wonders. Hand claps and backing vocal chants make this feel as primitive as ancient campfire gatherings where the gathers listen to the wise old medicine woman of the tribe. It’s a necessary coloring from Katz’s palette of possibilities.
Katz, with this In My Mind album, does her best work yet at forging all of her blues, roots, and Appalachian influences into one coherent and alluring sound. She still comes off strongly blues on most of these tracks. Yet, we get to see how she has arrived at blues by deep diving into its family of genres. With voice and fiddle so unique in timbre, tone, and usage and by including support players with the right feel for her songs, Katz now has the best calling card of her career. Produced by Mark Isbell and recorded by Jack Gauthier at Lakewest Recording in West Greenwich, Rhode Island, Katz’s talents dwell in just the right places in each song with a special purity of sound.
