JUNO Award-winning powerhouse
singer-songwriter Crystal Shawanda is back with a new studio album,
Midnight Blues, set for release this September 30th on True North
Records. The latest fiery bluesy Americana collection features the first
single “How Bad Do You Want It” — showcasing her full-throttle raspy
voice, unmatched in today’s musical landscape, and an authenticity for
the genre dating back to her youth.
“Growing
up, all of my favorite music had these breadcrumbs that led me to the
blues,” Crystal says. “I often quote Willie Dixon: ‘Blues is the roots
and everything else is the fruits.’ Even today's pop music, there's all
this influence that derives from the blues. I was just always really
attracted to the rawness and the realness of the blues.”
Produced
and engineered in Nashville by her husband and long-time collaborator
Dewayne Strobel, Midnight Blues — her eighth studio album, and fifth
since switching from a chart-topping career as a country artist — is a
collection of original songs, such as the seductive-sounding rocker
“Midnight Blues,” swampy dance-floor groove “Rumpshaker,” and gentler
“Take A Little Walk With The Moon,” as well as covers of the Howlin’
Wolf classic “Evil” and her take on Celine Dion’s hit “That’s Just The
Woman In Me.”
“This
is absolutely my favorite album I've ever recorded because I feel like
my husband put me in a picture frame,” says Crystal. “He really captured
who I am as an artist. He let my vocal shine. He brought out the best
in me and all the songs that we wrote really capture my live show and
who I am.”
Crystal
was introduced to the blues by her eldest brother and to old-time
country by her parents. “I was also into other styles of music that led
me to the blues,” she says, citing everything from Elvis Presley’s
“Hound Dog,” written by Big Mama Thornton, to R&B-pop star Monica’s
“Misty Blue,” by Dorothy Moore.
“I
was one of those kids who read the liner notes,” Crystal says. “I
wanted to know everything, who are the songwriters, the musicians, the
producers, the engineers. I'm always wanting to know who are the
originators, who are the mothers of invention, who inspired all of us?
I’m a purist at heart, so I was always diving back to learn from the
masters, like Etta James, as far as vocalists; Muddy Waters, as far as
feeling; and Buddy Guy, as far as stylists who have a lot of swagger.”
And
yet Crystal’s first foray as a professional singer was in country
music, not blues. She was in her early 20s and had immediate success
after signing a U.S. record deal with RCA Nashville. 2008’s Dawn of a
New Day, featuring the single “You Can Let Go,” reached No. 1 on the
Canadian Country Album chart and No. 16 on the Billboard Top Country
Albums, the highest charting album by a full-blooded Canadian First
Nations country artist (in the SoundScan-era). Her first single, You Can
Let Go,”
The
following year she left the label and created her own, New Sun Records.
Her first release was the holiday album I’ll Be Home For Christmas. Her
next country album was 2010’s Just Like You, which won a 2013 Juno
Award for Best Aboriginal Album, before she made the change to the blues
with 2014’s The Whole World’s Got The Blues.
“I
love all styles of music, but there was just always something drawing
me to the blues,” she explains. “I had a country hit on the radio, and I
would show up at country music festivals and I'd do a BB King cover or
Buddy Guy or Etta James. Within country music, as much as I loved it, I
had to restrain my voice a lot. It's very hard to hold back, and
sometimes it was exhausting, whereas with the blues, I could just let it
fly.”
While
other artists have been embraced when they’ve made the switch to a
different genre — Taylor Swift from country to pop; Dallas Smith from
hard rock to country; and Darius Rucker from pop/rock to country —
Crystal doesn’t mind talking about the difficulties she’s encountered.
“Country
music is so excited when anybody from any genre comes to their world,
hoping it'll make their world more popular. It'll up the cool factor but
switching from country to blues is a lot more difficult because the
blues scene is very protective because it's such an original genre. They
want it to be respected and preserved.”
She
would’ve had an easier time if she had created a blues-influenced
sound, like the Black Crowes, Sass Jordan, or Alannah Myles, but Crystal
can hold her own in any conversation about the blues pioneers. Still,
she still likes to cover an iconic Canadian artist in her inimitable
way. Last album, it was The Tragically Hip’s “New Orleans Is Sinking”
and this time, Celine Dion.
“Because
I had so much friction coming to the blues where people were like, ‘You
don't know nothing about the blues,’ I'm trying to show them not to be
so close-minded because a lot of people are more inspired by the blues
than they may realize. Again, I'm trying to reiterate that quote by
Willie Dixon that the blues is roots and everything else is the fruit.”
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