Aussie Anne McCue Summons Mid-century Jazz on Eclectic New Album

Anne McCue’s sixth studio album, Blue Sky Thinkin’, traverses the great cosmic continuum into the era of mid-20th century jazz and swing, bringing with it enough of the singer’s East Nashville songwriting swagger and Australian independence to make the eclectic 12-song collection an intriguing listen.

McCue is tall, and like her music, striking. Her speaking voice is soft, delicate even, with an inviting Aussie lilt that all but disappears when she sings. She wears her blond hair at waist length, often in braids that hang behind her ears from beneath a bowler hat. More times than not, she looks at the world from behind blue-tinted glasses. The presentation is unmistakably that of a touring singer-songwriter — she seems oblivious to the heads that turn as she walks across the coffeehouse floor.

“I decided to make this album all pre-rock ‘n’ roll,” McCue says. “I love that era where jazz and blues started merging together and rock came out of it like a prodigal child.”

Indeed, the singer’s blend is old-school enough to be faithful to the genre, and Jim Hoke’s clarinet soars at just the right moments. Yet McCue and co-producer Dusty Wakeman (Lucinda Williams, Dwight Yoakam) give the album a welcome contemporary polish. That sheen shines even brighter thanks to McCue’s virtuosity on guitar, whether she’s slow-strumming a rhythm on “Things You Left Out in the Rain,” finger-plucking a nylon-string solo on “Dig Two Graves” or riding a subtle slide on “Long Tall Story” — her pickin’ chops have garnered accolades from the likes of Lucinda Williams, who once declared McCue to be “an amazing guitarist” and in 2004, singled her out as one of her favorite new artists.

“This is an uplifting album,” McCue says of Blue Sky. “I think that, hopefully, people will feel better after they’ve heard it. There’s a lot of fun to it.”

She’s right. The sprightly album brims with toe-tap-inducing feel-good patina. This despite song titles like “Cowgirl Blues” and the aforementioned “Dig Two Graves.” The latter, a playful Gypsy-jazz-inspired tune, boasts a bouncy melody and lyrics on the heady theme of murderous revenge. She calls it a “lighthearted murder ballad.”

Lyrically, McCue took a different tack in “Things You Left Out in the Rain,” a song of rueful remorse and lost love the singer co-wrote with John Hadley and David Olney. On that one, Hoke’s clarinet stitches a melody in front of a brass section that swings slowly behind the brokenhearted lyrics with the feel of a New Orleans dirge — modestly playful while respecting that a heart, like a rusty shovel, has been damaged by years of thoughtless neglect.

“Devil in the Middle” is another standout on the diverse album. Also penned by McCue, Hadley and Olney, it brings Beelzebub himself to the supper table in a tune plagued by a parade of catastrophe-laced disasters. It’s a fun blues song in a minor key, and it features baritone vocal contributions from The Blasters’ Dave Alvin to boot.

If this all sounds decidedly White Album-worthy eclectic, that’s because it is. McCue originally intended the album to be even more genre-jumpy, but eventually settled on a mix that, despite all the varying styles, works well.

“There were about five songs that were too eclectic,” she explains. “It had songs with a Rolling Stones feel, and Albert King and pre-rock ‘n’ roll. … So I said, ‘You know what? Let’s make it all pre-rock ‘n’ roll instead of half of it.’ ”

“Save a Life” is pure cool jazz, complete with finger-snap beat driver Dave Pomeroy’s rolling fretless bass work; “Uncanny Moon” is romantic, smoky and mysterious; and “Cowgirl Blues” is irresistibly charming. In the latter, McCue speaks of love using childlike images of dogies, bees and flowers. Musically, it’s the barest song on the record, featuring only McCue’s nylon-string fingerpicking — and it’s wonderful.