Sugar Queen & The Straight Blues Band - 340 Blues (2017)

This album is the result of a collaboration between musicians from the USA, Belgium and the Netherlands. This is the debut CD of Sugar Queen & The Straight Blues Band. Sugar Queen is the nickname of the American singer Michele Denise. Of course she also started her musical career in the church and then appeared in various gospel choirs.
Then she founded the blues band Deuces Wild and toured through China and Malaysia.
Now she has settled in our country and is accompanied by the Belgian-Dutch Straight Blues Band, which consists of bassist Rico Hagemeijer, guitarists Andy Aerts and Jean Raven, drummer Thierry Stievenart and Wim Heirbaut on the harmonica.
Everything on this album can be heard here as very experienced musicians. The voice of the Sugar Queen is soulful and at times jazzy and reminded me most of Mavis Staples.

The atmosphere on this album is very relaxed. You can hear that in the shuffle Crab Boil Shuffle in which guest Wim Degeest delivers a burning harmonica solo. The funky shuffle Give Sugar swings as smoothly. Bassist Rico Hagemeijer subtly covers the entire neck of his bass. The guitar solo also creates a jazzy atmosphere in this song, which is completely brought to taste by the ripping harmonica. The slow blues Wanna Take My Man is musically somewhere between Koko Taylor and Mavis Staples. So wonderfully soulful!
The funky blues 15 Dollars are performed in a relaxed way, so that the soulful vocals come out fine. The same relaxed atmosphere stays in the shuffle Hey Guys.
Guest Dirk Dekenne excels on his acoustic slide in Handfast Love. A shuffle with a laidback JJ Cale feeling. Wim Degeest can also be heard with his pumping harmonica. By The Law is a slow blues against the Chicago blues, which is very similar to T-Bone Walker's "Cold Cold Feeling". Sugar Queen Blues Groove is a song that gives exactly what the title promises, namely a nice funky wah wah blues song.
The album ends with I Miss You, a song that reminds of the early 60's girl doll from The Shirelles (Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow).

Sugar Queen and her band deliver with this debut a very pleasant blues album where the experience drips. (translated from dutch)