Val McKnight - Stroke That Cat (2018)

Electrifying soul and blues singer Val McKnight almost stubbornly unstudied, as if her audiences wouldn't put up with the pretension, Val McKnight hasn't the slightest interest in melisma or coloration on the opening (and title cut) of her debut 2011 CD, "Red Hot Lover." Her long notes slide flat, and her tone has all the subtlety of a screeching alley cat cornered by a pack of dogs. But hold on! In Southern Soul, as in the Bible, the last--by virtue of their righteousness--shall frequently go "first," and in Val McKnight's case that is the conclusion one almost begrudgingly grants the feisty singer as she drops one authentically memorable track after another.