There is something very comforting in hearing that an artist, in these days and age, keeps on being loyal to the music roots where said artist comes from, as the years go by.
In that respect and undoubtedly, a city like Detroit in the United States that has got an enormous musical heritage, has inspired hundreds of musicians as it keeps on doing today, still, nurturing their imagination and creativity each and every day.
In the case of one of Detroit's best contemporary Blues, Soul and Blues/Rock singer/songwriters, the incendiary Powerhouse phenomenon Eliza Neals, Detroit is not only the place where she has grown up, where she absorbed the sonic vibes and traditions of this vibrant city and revealed herself as a truly gifted artist, but is also a place where Neals is able to connect every day with her spirituality, channelling her darker feelings and inner strength at the same time into her songs with effortless ease, belting her lyrics with that unmistakable power that has and still is one of the key factors of Eliza Neals' success and popularity.
Neals has been repeatedly followed by our website on many occasions, especially in the last decade of Neals' career, where the American artist has kept on delivering strong records, showcasing her abilities as a singer and as a songwriter which were and still are, to these days, a joyful match made in heaven.
Now, with her 13th studio album just published and called Thunder In The House, Eliza Neals displays once again why she is so much respected and loved by her many fans and by her fellow musicians' colleagues too (and that include Mick Jagger as well!), through a spicy blend of Soul, Blues/Rock and at times, going a little Rootsy, a sonic ensemble that enhances beautifully the vocal and songwriting abilities of the Detroit-based artist.
The album cover does, in some way, introduce the album’s lyrical mood very aptly, with Neals embracing the road sign of Acacia Street where she grew up, between Acacia Avenue and N Kane St. in Detroit, with an Acacia tree behind the road sign symbolising, perhaps, a sort of quest for divine protection not only for the artist herself, but for the whole of mankind too.
The nine original songs included in Thunder In The House portray an artist very much still at the top of her game, especially through the irresistible one-two-three (Speedy Beady, Love Will and Blues Bombshell) that open the record, a trio of songs suspended between Electric Blues, Traditional Blues and Blues/Rock, where, together with Neals fabulous vocal delivery at the epicentre of each song, there is also a stellar job on guitar that will continue throughout the whole of the record made by one of Neals' longtime friends and collaborators, Michael Puwal, who coincidentally, also co-wrote the aforementioned songs together with Neals herself.
Among the high-quality standard of songs recorded by this remarkable artist on Thunder In The House, our website would like also to highlight the beauty of a couple more songs off the album, like One Monkey (Don't Stop No Show), a soulful tune with R&B undertones and the album's title-track, who closes the album in great style, thanks to the strong vocal delivery and musical intensity delivered by Neals and the splendid studio musicians playing on her new album, particularly Steve Lacross on drums and Doug Woern on bass guitar, who created such a dynamic Rhythm Section that brought, together with Puwal's thunderous guitar sound, the perfect sonic contribution to Eliza Neals' new album in its entirety.
Another year, another record, another impressive body of work released by an artist like Eliza Neals that sits, rather deservedly, among the most inspired and strongest Blues and Soul singers and songwriters of the current American Music scene.
Thunder In The House is out now and can be purchased via Eliza Neals' Bandcamp Official Page
