New York-based quintet
Jane Lee Hooker named themselves after one of the 20th century's titans but their 2016 debut,
No B!, doesn't much trade in his patented down-home boogie. It's big, blowsy blooze, the kind learned second-hand through barrooms and covers records. Song doesn't matter much: whether it's a cover or an original, it's used as a platform for chops, something that each member undoubtedly has. The problem is, every member of
Jane Lee Hooker plays with the dials crank to 11. Maybe Dana "Danger" Athens pushes her vocals that hard so she can be heard through the twin-engine roar of guitarists Tracy Hightop and Tina "T-Bone" Gorin, but the end effect winds up feeling a bit like
GNR covering
Honkin' on Bobo: over-amplified riffs we know too well. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine