Gráinne Duffy is a blues rock artist from Co. Monaghan, Ireland. Making appearances at top local and international festivals such as Glastonbury (UK), Woodford Folk Festival (AUS) and the Harvest Time Blues Festival (IE), Duffy is no stranger to the stage. Gráinne Duffy's unique, innovative fusion of blues, rock, Americana and Celtic influences shines through in new album, "Dirt Woman Blues"
Already achieving No.1 rankings on The Roots Music Report's Top 50 Album Ireland Chart , Top 50 Blues Album Chart, and the Top 50 Contemporary Blues Album Chart, the album is tipped to be one of the best blues releases of 2023. Her sixth album to date, the album was written over the second covid lockdown, between locations at Duffy's home studio and a studio in Encinitas, California.
About the album, Gráinne explains: "My new record reflects my love of the blues mixed with my love of songwriting. Chris Goldsmith (Ben Harper) and Marc Ford (Black Crowes) producing on this album brought together a perfect mix of Irish and American music influences".
Releasing four studio albums and one live album during the span of her incredible career, Duffy’s last album, “Voodoo Blues”, earned her bountiful acclaim, a top 10 position on the iTunes blues chart in Canada, and top10 rankings in the UK and France.
Sharing the stage with legends such as Billy Gibbons, Eric Gales, Shemekia Copeland and Supersonic Blues Machine, Duffy has also topped the all-female led bill at Cornbury Festival (2018), alongside Mavis Staples and Alanis Morissette. She is soon to perform with the RTÉ symphony orchestra and Johnny Logan. The 2021 winner of the Independent Blues Awards’ “Best Modern Roots Artist” category, Duffy also boasts back-to-back wins at the Blues Matters Writers Poll Awards, winning “Best Vocalist” and “Best Solo Artist”.
Blending soul, rock and Americana styles, Duffy lives and breathes the blues. Currently a BBC radio host with the series Gráinne Duffy Rocks, Duffy’s talent paired with her knowledge of classic and contemporary blues rock, makes her a musical force to be reckoned with.
Well Well Well sounds warm and Duffy really has a good voice and has an American tongue. This one is mixing country with blues rock.
Dirt Women Blues is the main title and is all about blues and strong female vocals. Be ready to start foot stomping! Funny thing is that my 8 year old daughter asked me if this was Black Mirrors (BE).
What’s It Gonna Be reminds me of the 70’s and Fleetwood Mac. It’s a soft, nice song but is fast out of my head too.
Running Back To You is clearly a blues rock love story. The vocals are great and I can almost hear the crowd shearing! The guitar play is top class!
Rise Above is a soft rocker filled with a bit of soul and a bit of country folk.
Sweet Liberation mixes rock with blues and good lyrics. The tempo goes up towards the end and gets a more smoked out rock sound.
Hold On To You reminds me a bit of Simply Red and could be described as a bluesy ballad.
Yes I Am takes out the rocker in her and takes the tempo up! It’s a smoking hot track with guitars on fire and hammering drums!
Killycrum is the last track and starts acoustic, starts rocking after a while and ends softly.
Well I choose this one as I wanted to review something that I normally wouldn’t pick out of dozen’s of possibilities. It’s not my favourite genre but I like her voice and the album is pretty good. I hope you dig it too?
