Deborah Coleman - I Cant Lose (1997)

"A little of the rock thing, a little of the funk thing, a little of everything" is Deborah Coleman's musical motto. So on the Virginia singer-guitarist's second CD, her own funky soul-blues tunes like "My Heart Bleeds Blue" and the stomping "Roll with Me" find their place next to more complex, swinging material like an up-tempo arrangement of Billie Holiday's "Fine and Mellow." Coleman's songwriting is better here than on her raw-but-right 1994 debut on New Moon, Takin' a Stand, and her vocals bring an air of weary emotional detachment to the heartbreakers. The only quibble is that she doesn't take enough risks with her guitar. Coleman's solos are punchy and fluid, but not expressive enough to match the mettle of her lyrics--a problem corrected on 1998's Where Blue Begins. --Ted Drozdowski