Kirsten Thien – Delicious 1.28.11

For The Best Video Links In The Blues Follow Us On Twitter!

Follow @BluesRevue

Kirsten Thien

Delicious

Screen Door Records

BluesWax Rating: 8

Scotch and Cigarettes Are Her Secret

Born in Germany and educated at Georgetown University, Kirsten Thien has talent and intelligence galore. She writes her own expressive lyrics and sings them with as much wrenching emotion as possible. Thien sings beautifully, but she is also a unique-sounding artist who will capture your attention and keep it. Thien has two previous albums, She really Is from 2002 and You’ve Got Me released in October of 2005.

On Delicious, Thien has written or co-written eight of the eleven tracks. On the opener, “Love That’s Made to Share,” guitarists Hubert Sumlin and Arthur Neilson round out her band. On the next track I begin to realize that, although structured like blues, these songs are very good regardless of genre. On “Nobody’s Ever Loved Me Like You Do,” “Please Drive,” and again on the title track, “Delicious,” Thien plays the sexy temptress. Sumlin and Neilson help her stretch out. She is sensitive on “Ain’t That The Truth.”

Charlie Feldman and Jon Tiven contribute “Taxi Love.” Thien also covers Ida Cox’s “Wild Women Don’t Have the Blues” and Willie Dixon’s “I Ain’t Superstitious.”

Her versions sound sexier than I remember the songs to be. I promise you will be captivated, too. The album is meticulously produced by Erik Boyd. When I mentioned to Thien that she did not have the typical blues voice she replied, “Scotch and cigarettes will cure that.” I love this woman. You will, too.

 Richard Ludmerer is a contributing editor to BluesWax. Talk to him below.