Clara Rose - The Offering (2018)
Clara Rose - The Offering (2018)
1 Nobody's Girl (3:22) 2 Make It Look So Easy (3:32) 3 Tightrope Walkers (5:03) 4 Queen Of The Late Night Radio (4:28) 5 The Offering (4:23) 6 Love Sweet Love (4:54) 7 Never Let You Go (4:06) 8 Cardboard City Blues (3:29) 9 Ball And Chain (5:32) 10 Silence (The Hardest Way) (4:38) Clara Rose - vocals, guitar Sean Beatty - guitar Tony Mc Manus - bass Michael Black - drums Elizabeth Monahan, Claire Mc Laughlin, Paula Higgins - backing vocals + Michael Buckley & Ronan Dooney - brass section Cathy McEvoy - violin Gavin Glass - keyboards
It’s a particularly busy time for Irelands premier blues singer Clara Rose. Her recent Ladies In The Blues tour, accompanied by Flo MciSweeney, Emma Nicolai and Jhil Quinn, is followed by her third album release titled The Offering, in the wake of her debut A Portfolio (2010) and EP Queen Of The Late Night Radio (2012).
A Bachelor of Music holder from N.U.I. Maynooth and an All-Ireland Medal winner for Sen-Nos singing, Rose can also boast a Music Therapy Masters from The University of Limerick. She has toured with a host of household names including Jack L, The Waterboys, Horslips and Eleanor Mc Evoy. She has also collaborated with harmonica and blues legend Don Baker, the perfect musically suited partnership, recording Baker and Rose in 2016.
Very much in her comfort zone when blasting out the blues, The Offering is evidence that Rose is anything but a one trick pony, with the material also straying seamlessly into modern folk and soft soul vibes over the ten tracks that feature on the album. Cardboard City Blues has jazzy overtones with hints of Sade in evidence and Tightrope Walkers is catchy, poppy, radio friendly fare.
However, the stand out tracks feature Rose doing what she does best in belting out the blues. The Queen Of The Late Night Radio, Love Sweet Love and her cover of Big Mama Thornton’s Ball And Chain all showcase her exceptional vocal range.
A lady that can most definitely can sing the blues, delivering an album that further establishes her as one of Ireland’s finest female vocalists. An album well worth checking out and don’t miss out on the chance to catch her live given the opportunity. ---lonesomehighway.com
download (mp3 @320 kbs):