Teresa James: Bad at Being Good

She may have been based out of Los Angeles for the past four-plus decades, but Teresa James' Texas roots still shine through on her 14th full- length release as co-leader. Given that her husband and co-leader, Terry Wilson, was also raised in Texas, as was drummer Tony Braunagel (who plays all but two songs), well, that sound comes to them naturally.

Wilson wrote or co-wrote 11 of the 12 tracks here, with James contributing on five of them. They present a nice variety in tempo, from the flag-waving opener, "Love's a Full Time Job," and the sassy boogie woogie of "We Came to Rock,"to the dialed-down "Is Anything Alright."

James' singing voice is raspy, even thin at times. But her timing, her control, her ability to embed herself in the music—that voice fully enmeshed in the band—give her singing an emotional wallop and purity of tone.

She also has the unusual ability to achieve a conversational tone while still singing; she is not narrating or speaking, yet it feels more like a story than a song. Frank Sinatra had that gift, but not many others. She puts this to good use on "Trouble in Paradise," a tale of a relationship on the rocks but not yet without hope.

The most fetching melody may be on "Angel On My Shoulder," also written by Wilson and James. The refrain has a hook a mile wide, with Billy Watts' guitar providing a soaring harmony behind James' vocal lead and backing chorus.

On "Say What You Will," James and the band slide into more of an East Coast R&B vein. It is another fetching melody, with James inhabiting the upper register of her range, and Watts providing a soulful guitar solo.

They supplement their sound with horns on most of the songs, with Darrel Leonard's trumpet and Paulie Cerra's sax adding a nice underpinning to the sound.

The album closes out strongly on a song written by Gary Nicholson and Wilson, "Close Down the Blues Bar." The title sounds like it might be an anthem to hard living, but the lyrics tell a story about a wife wanting the bar to close so her blues-loving husband will come home!

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