Consistency is a virtue, at least in the case of Marcia Ball.
With The Tattooed Lady and the Alligator Man, the Texas blueswoman continues her string of reliably wonderful, largely up-tempo albums, replete with honking sax and her own barrelhouse-influenced piano.
“Clean My House” features particularly rollicking solos, as Ball’s left-hand-heavy star turn gives way to bandmember Thad Jones’ tenor sax. Jones turns dreamier on the soulful “Just Keep Holding On,” which features sweet backing vocals from Wendy Moten for an almost girl-group feel. Ball also demonstrates her command of more delicate stylings, notably in the ever-so-slightly melancholy nostalgia of “Like There’s No Tomorrow.”
Several other regional guest stars add their shine: Terrance Simien sings as well as lays down some bittersweet accordion in the zydeco-inflected “The Squeeze Is On” and Delbert McClinton contributes harmonica to “Can’t Blame Nobody but Myself.” As these titles indicate, while the majority of these 12-tunes are bouncy and several of them are actually cheery—notably the title track—this is real blues, produced with the transparency of a good live show.
In other words, one more album that reflects the tenor of the times, displaying resilience in the face of hardship in the form of the danceable sass we have come to expect from this peerless artist.
