Singer/songwriter
Beth Hart continues to explore her blues and soul roots via 11 cover versions of her favorite tracks on
Seesaw, her second album with blues guitarist
Joe Bonamassa. Following the same path as their first collaboration, the 2011 all-covers release Don't Explain, the pair hooked up again with producer
Kevin Shirley, who has previously worked with
Led Zeppelin,
Journey,
Black Crowes,
Joe Bonamassa, and numerous others. The 11 tunes kick off with a jump blues rendition of "Them There Eyes," a rock blues take on
Ike & Tina Turner's "Nutbush City Limits"; punchy horns accentuate the
Buddy Miles penned "Miss Lady," and they give a straightforward soul treatment to the Don Covay/
Steve Cropper tune "See Saw" recorded by
Aretha Franklin in 1968. The influence of
Janis Joplin and
Etta James is evident on the powerful ballads "If I Tell You I Love You" and "A Sunday Kind of Love." The album closes with an eerie version of the anti-lynching poem from 1937 associated with
Billie Holiday, "Strange Fruit." Also returning from the Don't Explain album are
Bonamassa's assembled backing band:
Anton Fig (drums and percussion),
Blondie Chaplin (guitar),
Carmine Rojas (bass), Arlan Schierbaum (keyboards),
Lenny Castro (percussion), and
Michael Rhodes (bass on "I'll Love You More Than You'll Ever Know"). ~ Al Campbell