The Zozo Sisters:
Linda Ronstadt & Ann Savoy,
Adieu False Heart
(Vanguard, 2006)


Linda Ronstadt and Ann Savoy first recorded together in 2002 on Evangeline Made: A Tribute to Cajun Music that Savoy produced. Evidently, they enjoyed the process because they are back with a full duet album, and it is a beauty. Their voices blend together like oil and vinegar to produce a sound that is solid, substantial, challenging and always tasty.

Part of the beauty of the album is that, although all of the material is done to with a Creole band, the song selection ranges from traditional folk songs, such as "Go Away from My Window," to contemporary country, including a fabulous version of Kevin Welch's "Too Old to Die Young." Their take on the classic rock chestnut, "Walk Away, Renee," makes the song sound new again. Mostly, though, the two singers do not wander far from Savoy's Cajun base, sung mostly in the Cajun patois.

The arrangements, while always in the Creole tradition, are imaginative and clever, caressing the songs and enhancing them. Relying on tastefully strummed acoustic guitars, twin fiddles and the occasional button accordion, the instruments create a sound pattern that allows the singers to soar above it.

The Zozo Sisters present two fine artists at the peak of their power doing material they love. You can't ask for more.




Rambles.NET
music review by
Michael Scott Cain


9 December 2006


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