Link: http://www.miavermillion.com

Mia Vermillion
Alone Together With The Blues
Mia Vermillion Productions

One of my favorite 2009 local blues releases so far this year is from Anacortes, Mia Vermillion. She's a new Washington Blues Society member, and Alone Together with the Blues is a must for fans of understated, but powerful, acoustic blues. Mia has performed at a range of festivals, including the Olympia Food and Wine Festival, the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, and the Jazz Walk for the 2006 Anacortes Jazz Festival. She was invited to participate in a musicians exchange in China, and she received an award for her US Armed Forces FORSCOM Festival show. Alone Together with the Blues features a core band of Orville Johnson (former Dynamic Log and world-class acoustic blues man), Chuck Deardorf (noted Origin Records jazz bassist), Ben Smith (drummer for Heart and the Lovemongers), and Hans Teuber (Origin Records reed man) with cameos from Cary Black, Mark Ivester, and Garey Shelton on a CD that features two original tunes and seven covers. I particularly like Mia's version of Big Bill Broonzy's "I'm Going to Copyright Your Kisses" and "When I've Been Drinkin'". "Two Cigarettes in the Dark" draws upon Hans Teuber's clarinet expertly, and takes the CD back, film-noir-ish, to the song's roots back in its 20's and 30's roots (and while it's clearly not a blues song - think Mia as a jazz chanteuse for a moment - it showcases the exceptional vocal range of a blues women I have just discovered through the Washington Blues Society)

Author: Eric Stiener
Repost Courtesy of The Washington Blues Society