British blues roots rock guitarist and vocalist Bex Marshall’s has just released ‘Preaching To The Choir’, the third second single from her newly released album Fortuna, available on CD and digitally via Dixiefrog Records.
Described as a no-nonsense guitar track that firmly sets the pace of the album, ‘Preaching To The Choir’, acts as a blues rock ignition to the album engine. Anthemic, skyscraper guitar licks kickstart the track and launch into driving funk groove train. This song gets straight to the nitty gritty, with lofty gospel vocals from Shola Adegoroye. Bex’s drawl shoots the accusation to the guilty party. Is preaching to the choir political or personal? Listen to the video here at RAMzine and judge for yourselves, then access the single digitally.
As you’ll hear, its subtle funky rhythmic turnabout feeds soulful lyrics, deeper manta-intoned gospel harmonies while busy little guitar lines bringing honey to the pot.
It’s ten years since Bex Marshall’s last album, but she has a super abundance of smarts and edgy spirit to go along with her surety of purpose. She conjures a vocal melting pot of old black woman’s heartache and powerful gritty soul and unique guitar skills which have been labelled by other guitarists as “the goal.”
The long-awaited studio album Fortuna is a ten-track blues tapestry that bulges to the edges with addictive hooks and story lines. Marshall is a writer of notability, pushing the boundaries of blues and weaving the genre in and out of blues, funk, rock, and Americana.
With an experienced a busy touring schedule, independently breaking into several international markets, Marshall steps forward with this record as a leading female guitarist, producing her powerful, self-penned album with soaring lead lines, technical ragtime, and ballsy slide playing – Fortuna is an intense culmination of focus and personal release over the last few years.
Drawing in local London talented friends including Richie Stevenson drums (Tina Turner, Simply Red, George Clinton), Toby Baker on keyboards (BB King, Eric Clapton, Alexander O’Neil, Sinead O Connor), the legendary B.J Cole on Dobro (Elton John, Coldplay, Sting, Shania Twain, Robbie Williams), New York’s Robert EugeneDaniels and Aurora Mannola both on bass, London’s gospel queen Shola Adegoroye, and Danny Bryanon percussion (Taj Mahal).
After a week-long intense recording session at Snakepit Studios in North London, Fortuna was created. It’s an album of soulful rock blues, with funky undertones with touches of gospel and roots. The album was engineered, co-produced and mastered by Nick Hunt (Dave Stewart, Boy George, Placebo, George Clinton) who Marshall worked with on her previous album House of Mercy.
“I have been influenced by multiple artists,” Marshall said. “For me it never stops. Songwriters, vocalists, and guitarists – you name it! I grew up listening to Tina Turner. Vocally, she was my heroine. Her tone, soul, and vocal range was so versatile. Other influences include Eric Clapton’s cool guitar style, John Lee Hooker’s back porch flavour, Freddie King’s sting, Jose Feliciano’s flair, Janis Joplin’s ragtime, and Elton John and Bernie Taupin’s songwriting. I was lucky as my uncle had a stunning vinyl collection, and I was able to absorb all these relevant box ticking blues rock greats.”
“She’s mastered the art of making new material sound like it’s been found in long forgotten vaults,” said Net Rhythms. Marshall holds a songwriting retreat twice a year in Cyprus and believes that “bad songwriting is affecting the quality of our suffering.”
The album’s lyrical content touches on the all too familiar addictions of life, from love to liquor, changes in society and bitter regret. The album features nine original tracks, one being an instrumental and one cover.
“The album is where I am today musically and philosophically and reflective of the performer I am now,” she said . “I wanted to take the hard lumps out of life, and present them back in a different light, sometimes with humour, sarcasm, or resilience but always with a shed load of tenacity. I wanted to make a record with iconic guitar sounds, heavenly funky keyboards, roots infected vocal lines with the funk in the trunk. The album is the most upbeat offering from me to date and I want to produce a show of high energy blues rock euphoria to reignite people’s mojos.”
During lockdown her good friend and bass player Red Bass (aka Robert Eugene Daniels) was living in London with us and after a few months sadly passed away. She was lucky enough to capture some of his bass lines in Snakepit Studios. She recorded demos for the album and finally used them in five of the 10 album tracks. “Red was a unique musician,” she reflected. “I was honoured to play music with him for over 20 years. We even shared the same birthday.”
Previous singles from the album are ‘I Can’t Look You In The Eye’ and ’5am’ – Both singles are also available on all streaming platforms here and you can check out the music videos here at RAMzine.
‘I Can’t Look You In The Eye’ is a blues rock song born from not being able to comfortably stare at a person in conversation, according to Marshall. “Due to the fact that the energy and attraction between the two is so intense, almost like opposing magnets until the eyes connect, adding, “The song was co-written with Scott Coopwood from Clarksdale, Mississippi, with revered local musicians.”
It’s a see-saw sliding riffed number, that never quite keep still so quite fitting for the song’s theme. It follows the early hours sober-thought blues of ’5am’, here previous single, where she contemplates the heady night before and the break-up that ensued, with crystal glass clear guitar lines sparkling throughout while a weary-toned voice bridging the soft gap between Maggie Bell and Bonnie Raitt relates its regrets.
Tracks featured on Fortuna are: ‘Preaching to the Choir’, ‘Dirty Water’, ‘I Can’t Look You In The Eye’, ‘5am’, ‘Jungle’, ‘Table for One’, ‘Fortuna’, ‘Lay Down and Die’, ‘Scrapyard Dog’ and ‘When Its Gone’.
You can pre-order the CD here and digitally here. ‘5am’ is available to stream and buy here and you can check out the video here at RAMzine.
