I’ll Sing the Blues for You

Texas has produced an incredible number of blues musicians and Houston vocalist Trudy Lynn certainly fits that bill. Now in her 60s, she’s released 12 solo albums in a career that began in the 1960s. In 1989, she signed with Ichiban Records, with whom she recorded a batch of LPs that enabled her to realize her goal of performing at prominent blues festivals. Three years ago, she hooked up with Connor Ray Music, and on I’ll Sing the Blues for You, her third release with the label, she’s backed (and how!) by harpist Steve Krase, guitarist David Carter, keyboardist Randy Wall, bassist Terry Dry and drummer Matt Johnson. Lynn struts her stuff on 10 numbers that include songs by Big Mama Thornton (“Alright, Baby”), Lowell Fulson (“Black Nights”), Johnny Copeland (“Down on Bended Knee”) and the highlight—Memphis Minnie’s “World of Trouble,” a saga of homelessness that Minnie recorded in 1953. Lynn purrs, croons, snarls and howls—whatever it takes to put a song across. It all works!