Georgie Jessup
Album: Philosopher Dogs
Label: Winkte Music
Tracks: 11
Website: http://www.georgiejessup.com/

Not being familiar with Jessup, I have to confess to being initially a little nonplussed on hearing a decidedly masculine voice which didn't match the name. However, a little Googling revealed her to be a transgendered Native American activist, a background that's partly addressed on the accordion-accompanied Brian Wilson-esque confessional FM ballad Reluctant Phoenix. So, confusion sorted, what's on offer is a solid collection of soul-tinged country rock that nods both musically and lyrically to her ethic heritage. A tribal drum rhythm underpins the title track opener, an autobiographical track about hitting the road with a truck, guitar and her canine companions that references Hank and Elvis and features some tasty bluesy electric guitar work, while three numbers specifically address Native American subjects. A bluesy organ backed ballad, Geronimo's Bones is about still looking to get a fair deal for Native Americans while, written by Dirk Hamilton, Geronimo is a straightforward, mandolin-accompanied Eagles-esque tribute to the iconic Apache leader. The third, streaked with pedal steel, Red Cloud's room, is a new version of a song she originally recorded in 1993, and again concerns the government's treatment of America's indigenous people.

Elsewhere, other originals include Who's Gonna Be My Valentine, a warm accordion waltzing love song about her parents, written and sung in her mother's voice missing her husband; Room For One More Sinner (Rehoboth); a Billy Joel-styled number about the over-commercialisation of a Delaware seaside community; old school pedal steel led honky tonker Lost Paradise with Eve as a guitar playing cowgirl; You're The One, a love song duet with Sonia Rutstein; and Alsace Daughter/Fille D'Alsace, French accordion colouring a song about her visit to her grandmother's ancestral home town of Roesh in Alsace.

The final track is yet another cover of Ring of Fire, here given a chugging, almost Pettyesque folk-rock treatment that may not make it one of the most original versions, but does get you tapping your sides and provides a suitably upbeat close to a very listenable album that deserves to give Jessup far wider exposure than it likely will.

Mike Davies