Toni Price – Midnight Pumpkin
It’s one thing to be a Bonnie Raitt fan (who isn’t?), but it’s another thing to make a record that she’d be proud to have her name on. The fifth album from this gifted, kaleidoscopic Austin singer shows off not just the rockin’, funky ease and flow that her Grammy-plated role-model loves, but also her exceptional taste in picking songs and songwriters.
Price also displays a broad musical palette that lets her shift personas seamlessly. The barroom aura of Depression-era standards “We Just Couldn’t Say Goodbye” and “Right Kind Of Man” sounds right at home with the humorous groove of three Swamp Dogg tunes (especially the Brazilian-flavored “Work On It”).
Shelley King provides her with the New Orleans shuffle of “Who Needs Tears” and the joyous bluegrass of “Call Of My Heart”, with Price poignantly breaking off each line like a poetess. Gwil Owen’s lovely, sweet “Something In The Water” works as well as the Owen/David Olney simmering rocker “Measure For Measure”, featuring tangy guitar licks from James Burton.
Perhaps the most revealing number is “Thank You For The Love” from rock-funk combo Mother’s Finest. On the same mission to merge styles, Price lets her emotions run the gamut, toasting a former beau for laughs and tears, knowing that love and pain can be found in the same person. Finding heart-torn lyrics and a wide range of songs is the mark of a great singer using voice, mind and heart, and that’s exactly what you get with Toni Price.