Anna Rose
Strays in the Cut
Noble Steed Music
My brother and I played a game when we were at a music festival. After checking out a new band, we’d evaluate them. If they band was really exciting, they were a “sign them” act. Then there were the “hire them” acts. These were the bands that were good, solid performers who we’d book if we ran a club, but couldn’t get that excited about. There’s no shame in being a “hire them” because they were definitely worth seeing. We don’t really need to go into what the “skip em” bands were like.
If Anna Rose were at that festival, she would have been a solid “hire them.” Anna Rose is good at what she does. She has a powerful voice that can be soothing when it needs to be or can torch the rafters when she wants to. Her guitar playing is solid going from dirty fuzz tones to clean leads. Her song writing is firmly in the blues-rock tradition of people like Susan Tedeshi and early Bonnie Raitt. You can hear her mastery of the form in songs like “Bury Me Deep” and “Natural Disaster”. Strays in the Cut is a solid effort. All the elements you want are there, but it just doesn’t have that transcendent quality that knocks me out.
