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  • MSN music - all music guide

    "IT IS IMPOSSIBLE NOT TO BE MOVED BY THIS PERFORMER...WITH HER LUSH, SULTRY & ROBUST VOICE, WILLSON CAN GET A RISE OUT OF A STONE STATUE."

    MSN music - all music guide

  • Blues Access

    ".....THE KIND OF PERFORMANCE THAT FREEZES YOU IN YOUR TRACKS WITH ITS GOSPEL INTENSITY."

    Blues Access

  • Blues Review ( America's Blues Magazine )

    "FROM THE GET-GO, ONE THING IS CLEAR: WILLSON'S SULTRY, DOMINATING VOICE HAS CONTINUED TO DEVELOP..."

    Blues Review ( America's Blues Magazine )

  • Request

    "WILLSON'S SOARING VOICE HAS A PLEASANTLY HUSKY QUALITY THAT GIVES IT MORE SPUNK THAN MOST OF TODAY'S FRAGILE POP DIVAS."

    Request

  • GQ

    "...HERE COMES BOSTON'S MICHELLE WILLSON, SINGING LIKE THE MUSIC MATTERED, LIKE IT MIGHT BE THE ONLY WAY OUT OF A BAD PATCH OF LUCK OR A BOTCHED MARRIAGE."

    GQ

  • Durham Herald Sun

    " THE MAJOR THRILL OF THE NIGHT, HOWEVER, WAS MICHELLE WILLSON. SHE EXCEEDED MY EXPECTATIONS, WHICH WERE ALREADY HIGH. SHE JUST BLEW US AWAY."

    Durham Herald Sun

  • Mode

    "HER CONFIDENT VOICE, WHICH BLENDS A HUSKY JAZZ STYLE WITH SULTRY BLUES, RESULTING IN A SOULFUL, SEXY MIX."

    Mode

  • Songwriter's Monthly

     

    "YES, THIS WOMAN IS DANGEROUSLY GOOD, COMMANDING EVERYTHING SHE COMES INTO CONTACT WITH. YOU DON'T JUST LISTEN TO HER, YOU BELIEVE HER. AND THAT'S A POWERFUL ABILITY. GOOD, GOOD, STUFF."

    Songwriter's Monthly

HOW DO YOU DESCRIBE MICHELLE WILLSON?

A writer in the respected Allmusic.com once put it this way: "Her singing is like a strong cup of Joe -- it beelines to the gut and jolts the system."

And that's putting it mildly.

Michelle is a force of nature -- an emotional ball of talent that inspires with her original songs but also takes you on a journey through what she calls "the lost music" of vintage soul/R&B legends like Dinah Washington, Ruth Brown and Etta James. As she says, "They were all different, but the one thing they shared was intensity. And that's what I'm trying to bring, too."

Operating on instinct since she doesn't read music, Michelle has had a remarkable career. The Boston native made four albums with Bullseye Records (a subsidiary of Rounder Records) under the watchful eyes of producers Ron Levy (who also played keyboards with B.B. King for many years) and the Grammy Award-winning Scott Billington, who has more than 100 albums to his credit. Michelle herself has been nominated for the W.C. Handy Award for best blues vocalist (she lost to Etta James) and has toured internationally.

Now comes an exquisite live album, "Fortune Cookie," made with her band, the Evil Gal Festival Orchestra (the "Evil Gal" is plucked from a Dinah Washington song). It was recorded at the famous Scullers club in Boston before a packed house that heard Michelle belt out a cross-section of originals and other favorites that had the crowd calling for more. It is another high-water mark in her career and confirms a strong comeback after a hiatus she took to recharge.

During her time off, she realized she he had reached her old dreams and had to devise new ones. She questioned if she had anything more to say, but the voluble singer now states, "I always have more to say!"

"Thanks for sharing the good music - fine singing and musicianship.
This is a well performed and well produced album, with good recording quality."

Bruce Iglauer - Alligator Records

"...powerful passionate singer -  marvelous mistress of blues, jump and swing - celebrates her rollicking new recording, "Fortune Cookie"...

Boston Globe 1/23/14

Michelle Willson and her Evil Gal Festival Orchestra offer fine live album Fortune Cookie

Bill Copeland Music News

  • Long John Blues

  • Fortune Cookie

  • Evil Gal Blues

Upcoming Shows

Sunday Feb. 11 - 7:30pm

Buzzing the Beehive with Bruce Bears

Bruce Bears hosts a weekly Blues Soiree on Sundays at The Beehive. Music starts 7:30pm
Wed. Feb. 14 - 8-11pm

Lovin' the Beehive

Bring your honeybee down to The Beehive for some Valentine's sweetness! reservations a must
Friday Feb. 23 - 9pm-midnight

BBQ n' Blues at Theodore's

Thursday March 28 6-9pm

Ocean Mist - on the beach at Matunuck RI

Mike Warner, Dickie Reed and the Ocean Mistics with a rotating cast of suspicious characters. Winter or summer - you can't beat this incredible view. Come down to the shore - sunset, dinner, drinks, music - what's not to like?
Thursday April 25 music starts 9:15pm

Thursdays at Menotomy Grill & Tavern

Ah! So this is why the British were intent on marching through Menotomy on the way to Lexington and Concord. The food here is incredible!

June 2013 issue "The Noise" online at http://thenoise-boston.com/

MICHELLE WILLSON

Recording the live CD Fortune Cookie
Sculler's Jazz Club, Boston, MA
5/2/13

read full review


Michelle Willson "Dinah Washington Tribute" Live @ Chan's 9/24/12