Saffire - Old, New, Borrowed & Blue (1994)

1		Fools' Night Out	4:29
2		T'aint Nobody's Business	4:13
3		You Got To Know How	4:14
4		Do Your Duty	3:40
5		Roll Mr. Jelly	2:47
6		The Clock	3:39
7		The Richest Guy In The Graveyard	2:42
8		Don't You Tell Me	3:59
9		Bitch With A Bad Attitude	4:04
10		Sweet Substitute	3:39
11		Baby, I'm Wise	2:27
12		Falling Back In Love With You	4:22
13		There's Lightning In These Thunder Thighs	3:42
14		How Can I Say I Miss You?	3:49
15		Life Goes On	5:14
16		Yonder Come The Blues	3:15

Acoustic Bass, Mandolin, Guitar, Fiddle, Vocals – Andra Faye McIntosh
Guitar, Harmonica, Vocals – Gaye Adegbalola
Piano, Guitar, Vocals – Ann Rabson
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Soprano Saxophone – Clark Dean (10)

Old, New, Borrowed & Blue finds Saffire's sound bordering on the formulaic. Songs like "Bitch with a Bad Attitude" and "There's Lighting in These Thunder Thighs" are simply too cutesy and too predictable -- but there is still plenty for their fans to treasure on the record. ---Thom Owens, allmusic.com

Ann Rabson, Gaye Adegbalola and Andra Faye, the spirited women of Saffire–The Uppity Blues Women, have never shied from speaking their minds. During the course of their 25-year career, words like ‘fearless,’ ‘inspiring,’ ‘witty,’ ‘joyful’ and ‘powerful’ have been used to describe their smart, sassy, and deeply emotional blues. A review in Ms. Magazine perfectly summed up the band’s incredible rise to the top: “Recipe for success: start with three talented musicians. Stir in rich melodies, honky-tonk rhythms and spicy-hot lyrics. Then add a bucketful of courage, the kind it takes to leave home and career in mid-life. Simmer for a few hours in smoky roadhouses and cheap motels. The result? Saffire–The Uppity Blues Women.”

The trio’s new Alligator CD, Havin’ The Last Word, will be their final declaration together as Saffire–The Uppity Blues Women; the group has decided it’s time to move on so they can pursue their own individual interests. But pianist/guitarist/vocalist Rabson, guitarist/harmonicist/vocalist Adegbalola and multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Faye have plenty to say with Havin’ The Last Word. From the uplifting opening track “Going Down To The River” to the saucy ode to aging, “Growing Older,” to the salacious “Bald Eagle” (Gaye’s hilarious follow up to fan favorite “Silver Beaver”) to the heartbreaking “Blue Lullaby,” Havin’ The Last Word is a showcase for the band’s stellar musicianship (including Gaye’s slide guitar solo debut on “Bald Eagle”), razor-sharp wit and provocative songwriting. As their fans have come to expect, the CD also features terrific vocals, rollicking piano, guitar, mandolin, fiddle, upright bass and harmonica.

Making their final record together in their hometown of Fredericksburg, VA was a true labor of love. “After nearly eight years, it was exciting to get back into the recording studio with my sisters,” Gaye Adegbalola recalls. “From song searches to songwriting, we worked really hard. Every song offers something special for the listener.” Ann Rabson also “wanted this farewell recording to be special, personal and historic.” Andra Faye agrees. “We all put our hearts and souls into every project, but this one is definitely special as it feels like the cap on our ‘legacy’.”

The decision to retire the band and go their separate ways was a natural progression. Gaye explains, “All three of us have different needs and different visions. For many years, our visions coincided and Saffire provided a realization of our visions. But, as we have aged and grown, our individual agendas have changed. The love has not changed. The love of the music and each other has not subsided. We continue to support each other’s varied visions—whether manifested on a front porch or in a world-wide, thousands-of-listeners arena.”

Saffire–The Uppity Blues Women burst onto the national music scene in 1990 with the release of their self-titled debut album, after six years of playing locally and regionally. With their brazen, no-holds-barred acoustic blues, Saffire took the music world by storm and earned legions of fans of all ages and genders around the globe. The group quickly went from being local favorites to internationally recognized blues stars, sharing stages with Koko Taylor, B.B. King, Ray Charles and Willie Dixon, who said of the band, “They knock me out.” National media like People, Entertainment Tonight, CNN’s Showbiz Today and National Public Radio’s Weekend Edition sang the band’s praises. With seven critically acclaimed albums, a large, loyal fan base, countless awards, and thousands of sold-out shows under their belts, plus a soon-to-be released documentary, Hot Flash, chronicling their storied history, Saffire–The Uppity Blues Women have achieved success beyond their wildest dreams.

With their music Rabson, Adegbalola and Faye reestablish and update the long tradition of uppity women blues singers like Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Sippie Wallace and Memphis Minnie. Mixing first-rate musicianship with equal parts of sass, soul and humor, Saffire unleashes unforgettable originals, composed with humor and poignancy, alongside definitive versions of classic blues songs. The Los Angeles Weekly says, “Their sweetly raunchy combination of cover chestnuts and outspoken originals turn double-entendre lyrics on their head.” In 1990, Gaye won a Blues Music Award for “Song Of The Year” for her raucous Middle-Aged Blues Boogie, featuring the oft-quoted lines, “an old woman don’t yell/an old woman don’t tell/an old woman don’t swell/and she’s grateful as hell/I need a young, young man/to drive away my middle aged blues.”

Ann Rabson worked steadily as a professional musician and solo artist since 1962, gigging regularly while occasionally holding down various day jobs and becoming a single parent. Twenty-five years ago, Rabson decided to join forces with her guitar student, Gaye Adegbalola (a former award-winning 8th grade science teacher), and Saffire–The Uppity Blues Women began to take shape. After gigging around their hometown of Fredericksburg, Virginia and developing a substantial following, the two, along with the band’s original bassist, Earlene Lewis, quit their full-time jobs, pooled their money and recorded an album that they forwarded to Alligator Records’ president Bruce Iglauer. The original songs and the musicianship, but most of all the feisty personality that shone through, impressed Iglauer. Although he had never signed an all-acoustic act before, he couldn’t get them out of his mind. “I kept coming back to the tape over and over,” Iglauer recalls. “I just figured if I enjoyed it so much, other people would, too. But I never expected what actually happened.”

Their debut album, 1990’s Saffire–The Uppity Blues Women, became one of Alligator’s biggest selling releases ever. 1991’s Hot Flash, followed by 1992’s BroadCasting (with Andra Faye guesting on guitar, fiddle and mandolin after Lewis’ departure), took Saffire to even greater heights; Andra’s mastery of all things stringed and her country-tinged vocals added a new dimension to Saffire’s music. Constant touring and increased radio play earned the group new fans everywhere they went. “Even people who don’t like the blues can’t resist them,” declared The Washington Post, while The New York Times hailed them as “post feminist traditional blues, sung and played with gorgeous abandon.”

The band’s subsequent tour and album, 1994’s Old, New, Borrowed & Blue, brought Andra into the band full-time, and their fan base continued to swell. Features in Ms. and other magazines plus an interview on National Public Radio’s Fresh Air spread the word all across the country. Their subsequent albums, 1996’s Cleaning House, 1998’s Live & Uppity and 2001’s Ain’t Gonna Hush! earned the band hordes of new fans and mountains of critical acclaim. And in 2006 Alligator released their “best of” CD, Deluxe Edition. ---alligator.com

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