Review: Laura Chavez – My Voice
Laura Chavez – My Voice
Format: CD – Digital Label: Ruf Records
Release: 2026
Text: Pascal Wilhelm
I wanted to start this review by saying that Laura Chavez is the first woman to ever receive a Blues Music Award for best Instrumentalist – Guitar (in 2023), but my wife being a feminist I immediately corrected myself. Yes, it is remarkable, statistically, but all genders can play a mean blues guitar and Laura Chavez is a more than excellent example.
‘My Voice’ (released January 31 on Ruf Records) contains all instrumentals and showcases Laura’s talent as a guitar player. Before this album, she appeared on twelve or more other records, mainly as a guitar player. However, she also writes songs and produces. Laura has work with Deborah Coleman, Nikki Hill, Dani Wilde, The Mannish Boys, Mike Ledbetter, Monster Mike Welch, Vanessa Collier, Casey Hensley, and Whitney Shay. Her collaboration with the late singer, songwriter and performer Candye Kane is, of course, well known.
The album was recorded at Studio St. Annan in Bad Sooden-Allendorf in Germany by Michael Murauer. Marty Dodson and Denis Paladin play the drums, Tomek German plays bass, and Lèa Worms plays organ and piano. Additional percussion on the song El Cascabel was played by Antonio Econom and recorded at Bulbancha YaYa studios in Chula Vista, California.
I contacted Laura just before the release and she was so generous to answer a couple of questions for our Dutch roots platform.
How did you became a working musician?
“Becoming a professional musician happened a bit by accident, in that it wasn’t something I saw myself doing growing up. I was always very shy and the stage did not come naturally or easily. I had planned to go to medical school and become a doctor. But soon after I graduated high school, I started going to blues jam sessions around my hometown. And really, one thing led to another and here I am, 25 years later unable to imagine doing anything else, really.”
What guitar players influenced your playing?
“Johnny “Guitar” Watson is a guitar player I don’t often see or hear mentioned nearly enough. I love his versatility and ability to really be so intense and musical at the same time. For newer guitar players or at least those playing right now, I have to say Rick Holmstrom is a favorite.”
About learning play the guitar. I read that you did not like the approach of your first guitar teacher. Did your second one made all the difference? What did he or she do? Or did you learn to play yourself?
“The second one made a big difference just in that he let me learn the songs and play the things I wanted to play. I also had an electric guitar and wanted to learn all the punk and alternative music I was listening to at the time and the classic rock songs I also listened to growing up. Eventually that led to blues and learning to improvise which I mainly learned on my own from studying records and live recordings. I never really learned anything note for note, though. I used to put on a CD or live recording and pretend I was in the band.”
The record sounds great and your guitar tone is super nice and gritty. I appreciate your minimal approach to creating your sound. What is that I hear in “Chinese Checkers?”
“I was using a tiny mini Marshall amp to record one of the guitars to make it stand out and be totally different. I was trying to emulate one of the horn lines and I wanted it to be nasty.”
That totally worked, any other stories about the recording sessions?
“The song Shot-Zee is supposed to be a fun party song and Shot-Zee is a dice game my friends and I like to play. At one point, if you listen closely, we simulated rolling dice by shaking and dropping sugar cubes out of a cup. Also, we were tracking the shout line “Shot-Zee” and Michael Murmur’s house cleaner arrived. She ended up as one of the voices probably wondering what we were doing.”
‘My Voice’ presents “a collection of instrumentals – originals and re-imagined classics—that reflect her musical heritage, personal history, and the diverse influences that have shaped her career.” From CCR’s Born On The Bayou, The Blasters’ So Long Baby, Goodbye to Booker T and the M.G.’s Chinese Checkers and, because of her Mexican affiliation (she lives in San Diego), a Mariachi standard (El Cascabel) and a song inspired by Mexican folklore, La Llorona.
The ten tracks on the record have a lot to offer. Laura’s voice has never been so much up front. Her guitar roars, squeels, pinches, punches, and leads the way for the great band she picked for this album. It reminded me of Chris Corcoran’s work; instrumental blues/roots music with groove and swing you can dance to.
Who needs a singer when the party has already started?
Laura’s attack on her instrument is so fierce, you can almost hear the strings wear out when she plays (listen to the dynamic move in Wanderer) and it is remarkable how her Mexican influences blend with her blues playing (El Cascabel and Mamba Negra reminded me of LA LOM; the Los Angeles League of Musicians). The album offers a wide variety in moods and grooves, each song will repeatedly catch your attention even if you have been listening to the album for a few times. In La Llorana the melodic guitar lines really tell a story. Listening to that track, I saw Laura’s guitar face in front of my eyes: an intense emotional expression indicative of the close connection between her and her worn-out red Fender Stratocaster.
Excellent stuff!
Tracks:
01. Born on the Bayou
02. Mind Your Step
03. Shot-Zee
04. Wanderer
05. El Cascabel
06. So Long Baby, Goodbye
07. Chinese Checkers
08. Mamba Negra
09. Napa Street
10. La Llorona