Frankie Lee - The Ladies And The Babies (1997)

Frankie Lee's debut album, The Ladies and the Babies, was one of the first contemporary blues albums to successfully negotiate the territory between post-Bobby Bland blues and southern soul. As one of the first albums on HighTone Records, the album helped set the stage for the numerous records and artists that teetered between soul and blues. To Lee's immense credit, he achieved this balance quite skillfully, thanks to solid songs, tight arrangements and powerful vocalists. He followed the record with several others quite like it, but none matched the energy or quality of The Ladies and the Babies.