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Evan Haga Living Blues Magazine (Issue 185 - July/August 2006)
| Another in the long list of talented yet sound-alike divas who emerged post-Bonnie Raitt. North Carolina's Robin Rogers deserves mention along with Susan Tedeschi, Renee Austin, Janiva Magness and Maria Muldaur. While Rogers' voice boasts the same sandy, enticing texture of all those artists, she comes closest in spirit to Muldaur by covering a traditional repertoire that harkens back to pre-war traveling shows and Big Easy bawdy houses. Rogers' phrasing can be predictable, but she vocalizes effortlessly with well-placed vibrato and fine intonation. And as on recent albums like Magness' Do I Move You? and Muldaur's Sweet Lovin' Old Soul, Rogers' accompaniment is masterful, elegant, and timeless: Phil Brown's clarinet solo during the double-time section of Hestitation Blues makes Dixieland sound less like a relic and more like vital American art, and Rory Block's arrangement of Travelin' Blues coaxes unbridled energy from an acoustic session. | ||
