Multi-award winning rock vocalist Sass Jordan has placed her bets on a new album of blues music coming out March 13, 2020 via Stony Plain Records. Rebel Moon Blues is an album she wasn’t ready to create until her husband Derek Sharp (The Guess Who), helped point out the natural blues vibe her powerful, gritty voice evokes.
“I was very slow on the uptake. As usual,” the high-spirited Canadian rock queen cracks,
bursting into raucous laughter. “It was one of those things that’s so dang obvious you just can’t see it. But yeah, the blues has always been a huge part of my life. It’s a big part of what I grew up with. It’s been there through my entire career. People have always said, ‘You’re so bluesy.’ And it’s true. My singing is blues-inflected. My songs use blues-type licks. If you listen to my album Rats, it’s totally blues-based. I didn’t do any of that on purpose. It isn’t contrived. It’s just me. So it’s always been there. It just took me this long to decide I could finally do it for real. Or at least do my version of it.”
Rebel Moon Blues was cut off the cuff and on the fly at Toronto’s Canterbury Music
Company studio in just three fast-paced days, with Jordan and her band, the Champagne Hookers, with help from blues harp master Steve Marriner and keyboardist Jesse O’Brien. This, after a great deal of crate digging to find just the right songs. Taj Mahal’s update of Sleepy John Estes’ “Leaving Trunk,” Rory Gallagher’s interpretation of J.B. Hutto’s “Too Much Alcohol,” and the Allmans’ iconic take on Elmore James’ “One Way Out” were some of her choices.
Then, there’s the song that lit the fuse. “Still Got the Blues (For You)” was written by Northern Irish guitarist Gary Moore, and was the title track of his eighth studio album in 1990. “Derek suggesting this song to me was what got the whole project started,” Sass shared with us. “I realized the enormous goldmine of songs I’ve loved and that have made such a big impact on me, and now having the opportunity to do my own versions.”
If one thinks about it for more than a minute, the choice makes perfect sense. Still Got the Blues marked a significant change in Moore’s style, as prior to its release he was focused on harder rock music (Thin Lizzy, Skid Row, G-Force, etc). The leap that Jordan makes with Rebel Moon Blues is much in the same vein.
Sass is so invested in the transition that she’s even named her own brand of whisky after the title.
But when it’s all boiled down, it’s the music that matters, and Jordan brings it like few others could. On “Still Got the Blues,” her voice loses a great deal of its signature growl, but retains the emotion that will break your heart. A better song choice couldn’t have been made for her blues debut, and we’re proud to bring it to you here.
Pre-order Rebel Moon Blues here.
Sass Jordan
*Feature image from the artist’s website
