Sanctified is the third studio album from this outfit and the Memphis-based Rezonate Records. The group features vocalist Mandy Lemons – though that may be an anagram – and she is aided by guitar man and producer Sturgis Nikides.

A couple of the inclusions are in the done-to-death-by-everyone category, notably Angel From Montgomery and I’d Rather Go Blind aka I’d Rather Go Deaf in these parts. Rick Steff is around to contribute some piano and the notable rhythm section of bassist  Jacky Verstraeten and drummer Bart De Brueker take care of business.

The recording quality is superb, it must be said. Mandy’s vocal style is clear, Southern, spirited and her phrasing very traditional. The low-slung slide on Angel sounds terrific. Raccoon Song is a jumpy fun piece begging for handclaps. The Freeze is as moody as it gets with weird percussion and murky Hammond in the mix, taking its time to conjure up a dusk-by-the-swamp ambience as the fiery vocal starts. The tremelo’d guitar is a great touch and the vibrato bar’s guitar noodling is hypnotic.

Title track Sanctified uses slide over a train tempo, Lemons sings with a throaty assurance, this must be alive favourite? Nina is acoustic and a rather dreamy trip. Electric slide is overlaid. It’s two minutes before the vocal starts. A bit LZ3. New York City Boy is a neat acoustic interlude, evoking Heart. New Orleans is the pitch on Here Comes The Flood with Lemons singing out. Altogether pretty well put together but something tells me that the natural habitat for these creatures is the stage.

Pete Sargeant