Brooklyn-born, Paris-resident Natalia M. King has taken a somewhat circuitous route in developing her musical style. Originally thinking she did not want to play jazz or blues, King started delving into what influenced the music of her youth. She also embarked in a physical, geographic journey to discover herself. It all came together when she got back to her adopted home and started performing again. And the spirit of blues and jazz that inspired her muses infected King and became the basis for her latest album, Woman Mind Of My Own.
The CD leads off with AKA Chosen, a rock anthem with world beat tendencies, and summarizes Kings journey of discovery with the realization, “I am what I was meant to be”. That sound takes a distinctly Motown turn on a remake of the 90’s Sonia Dada classic, (Lover) You Don’t Treat Me No Good. For even a little more soul, go to Forget Yourself. It’s a little bluesy, with some gospel hints, and takes the old bluesman trick of double entendres to a new level. Then, when the saxophone kicks in, lordy!, someone turn on a fan. King goes from that conflagration to a smolder on Sunrise To Sunset. It features producer Fabien Squillante on a sweet, jazzy electric guitar.
Blues also play a big part of the record. The most surprising piece of that is the cover of John Cougar Mellencamp’s Pink Houses. Forty years have passed since the original hit, and along with it increasing awareness of racial and economic inequality. King takes those decades of pain and turns an 80’s upbeat sound into a sorrowful story of struggle. So Far Away is a country blues piece, with a lazy, lazy tempo that perfectly portrays the ambivalence that has developed in a relationship. The title track finishes the CD. It’s another acoustic Delta blues number with clearly a bit of autobiographical content when King admits, “they call me a hard-headed woman, I tell ’em I work at it every day’.”
Natalia M. King has been busy refining a sound that’s purely American. And yet this record was 100% a French undertaking. King herself says that you don’t get the blues, the blues get you. With Woman Mind Of My Own she proves that can happen anywhere and after listening to it you’ll be grateful that’s true.
About the author: I've actually driven from Tehatchapee to Tonopah. And I've seen Dallas from a DC-9 at night.