Ruf Records Blues Caravan 2019, Katarina Pejak, Ally Venable Band & Ina Forsman

German Blues label, Ruf Records, specialises in promoting young talent and this year’s Caravan tour promotes three great young female performers. Each of them has an exceptional album out this year and they are all poised to break through like Samantha Fish and Joanne Shaw Taylor before them.

The show features two sets each night with the ladies playing together and showcasing each artists’ songs in turn. The excellent Roger Inniss (Bass) and Elijah Owings (Drums) make up the rest of the band and are on stage throughout. They open up with everyone on stage for a jam on ‘They Say I’m Different’ and features name-checks for some of their influences, including; Aretha / Muddy Waters (Ina), Ray Charles / Stones (Katarina), Stevie Ray Vaughan / Hendrix (Ally).

After that, Ina leaves the stage and turns it over to Katarina, the well-travelled, classically trained Serbian pianist who studied at Berkelee but plays with heart and soul and fire on her new album ‘Roads That Cross’. First number, ‘She’s Coming After You’ feels like an exquisite torch song and benefits from an almost Santana-esque solo from Ally on guitar. Katarina exhibits a variety of styles from honky-tonk to ballads and shines on two covers; ‘Turtle Blues’ by Janis Joplin and ‘Sex Kills’ by Joni Mitchell – not many people will be versatile enough to cover material by both of those stars. Her own material is strong though. She’s captivating on ‘Old Pain’ and the song that gets the warmest reception from the Edinburgh fans is road song ‘Moonlight Rider’.

Next up is the very engaging Ally and her personality and talent shine through from the start. First up is the very apt title track of her current album ‘Texas Honey’ which does have a hint of SRV about it. Kat is back to play along on ‘Broken’ which features a very fluid guitar solo and the rest of the set is instrumentally and vocally excellent, including ‘Backwater Blues’ from an earlier album. Young Ally has a touch of country about her but is also the one with the most cross-over appeal to blues-rockers and is definitely one to watch.

Ina, from Helsinki in Finland, has her showcase at the start of the second set. She really has a striking voice with elements of jazz and latin throughout. She’s also a natural storyteller and weaves a narrative into her songs, not least on ‘Why You Gotta Be That Way’ which tells the very modern tale of a too persistent would-be-suitor. There’s also a companion song from the other perspective on her current album ‘Been Meaning to Tell You’. ‘All Good’ is the warm feel-good song of the evening, ‘Genius’ is dedicated to her husband of two weeks and features another stunning solo from Ally while ‘Figure’ is a beautiful and fragile ballad with Katarina adding outstanding piano work.

Thereafter, the band finish off the set with some very enjoyable standards like Bonnie Raitt’s ‘Love Me Like a Man’ and ‘Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) made famous by Cher, Nancy Sinatra and Kill Bill. It’s quality stuff and one of the best shows that the ever-reliable Edinburgh Blues Club have put on.
The Blues Caravan 2019 Live Album (CD / DVD) will be released on 20 September 2019 so you can hear for yourself what it’s all about but you could do worse than invest in CDs from each of these highly talented artists.

The Edinburgh Blues Club promote several gigs each year – see Facebook page and website for details