Hannah Juanita – Tennessee Songbird

Juanita was an archetypal wannabee who arrived in Nashville with a guitar, dog and a head full of songs in her early twenties. She’s since been paying her dues by gigging around Music City as well as getting some higher profile support slots. The delight is that Juanita (a nom de plume) writes and sings traditional country music. Most of the compositions here are from her own pen. She’s talented but the album catches fire after teaming up with Mose Wilson, another traditional country music artist with his own career, to co-write a few of the songs and for him to play on and produce the album: it’s a superb partnership. I have to credit the other musicians on the album who elevate the whole affair, none more so than Jeff Taylor on piano. As records go this is all killer and no filler.

Fortune has a lilting pace where she mourns that fortune has left her and now she’s left with her mistakes in the tricky business of love. I especially love Jeff Taylor’s accordion and the vocal harmonies she creates with her own double tracking. If the lyrics are comfortingly predictable then Granny’s Cutlass Supreme shakes things up. Here grandma in a bikini (?) and martini keeps her Oldsmobile in a tip-top-tastic condition with polish and elbow grease. This nonsense enjoys a funky rhythm plus some gruff and deep vocals from Riley Downing (The Deslondes). There’s plenty of references to Honky Tonk in the lyrics and Honky Tonkin’ For Life  – “When the music starts / I feel it in my heart / Singin’ is the life for me / I’m a honky tonk angel” reaffirms where her happy place is as the electric guitar picks, the pedal steel serenades as the snare keeps a steady beat with the bass. Certainly, this is one for a trip on to the hard wood floor.

We finish with the heartbreaker Blue Moon. Her voice, with a minimum of accompaniment, starts as a beautiful siren call as she laments that having thought she’d moved on from a lover she ends up melancholy with the appearance of the lunar vision. The song builds from an acoustic guitar and slow honky-tonk piano to strings. This is a heartening collection that encourages you to believe that along with other contemporary artists such as Sierra Ferrell, Brennan Leigh and Summer Dean there’s a female traditional country scene laying down a fine body of work to help us all keep the faith.