CD Review: Lip Service – EG Kight

13 years ago Liv Carter 1

Lip Service – EG Kight (Vizztone/Blue South, 2011)

Over the years I have drifted in and out of musical phases, but the one genre that was consistently present was blues. Because of this, no matter which category your music fits in, if you infuse it with blues, it is very likely to get my attention.

Hailing from Dublin, GA, singer-songwriter EG Kight has been on stage since she was just 3 years old. The press notes accompanying the new disc have her stating that she knew she was right to pursue a perfomance career “because playing music meant more to me than money ever could.” And this may be one of the reasons I am so attracted to genre – no one makes a blues record for the money.

Those same notes describe her music as “country-flavored, southern-fried blues” and I would very much agree with this creative description. While borrowing song structure from country, and some arrangements lean towards gospel, ‘Lip Service’ is firstly a blues album.

From the social commentary of ‘Sugar Daddies,’ the defiant attitude on ‘I’m in it to Win It,’ and the language-play on the title track, Kight demonstrates consistently that she’s got this whole music thing down pat.

The gorgeous classic blues ballad ‘It’s Gonna Rain All Night’ is a real stand-out, as is the closing track ‘I’m Happy with the One I Got Now,’ a delightfully direct kiss-off to a persistent admirer – ‘Ain’t no need in cryin’/ain’t had a chance to break your heart//…//I know it’s hard/hard for you to believe/that you ain’t got a chance with me//…//There ain’t no competition/I’m happy with the one I got now’

More uptempo track like ‘Savannah’ and especially toe-tapper ‘I Can’t Turn Him Off’ help add variety to this disc. Each song has a finger in more than one genre, but the more blues the mix contains, the better it all fits together, and it is on tracks like this that Kight especially shines.

I hold great respect for artists who simply dare to be themselves, play exactly the type of music they wish, and hope someone likes it. With this album, EG Kight is not interested in paying, if you’ll excuse the obvious pun, lip service to any format. Straightforward songwriting and irresistible grooves make Lip Service an album for any blues fan.

Liv Carter

Liv Carter

Liv is a career coach for creatives, and the people who work with them.
She holds several certificates from Berklee College of Music, and a certificate in Positive Psychology from UC Berkeley.
Her main influences are coffee, cats, and Alexander Hamilton.
Liv Carter

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