Debbie Bond - media 'Hearts Are Wild

"Just as fine wines are bettered with age, the same can be said of Debbie Bond’s Hearts Are Wild. Hearts Are Wild shows her songwriting has reached full natural growth." Jerry Henry, Planet Weekly

Blowing aside every stereotype, blues & roots singer, guitarist and songwriter Debbie Bond embodies her music with pure authenticity. Born into a musical family in California, she also lived in Germany, Holland, England, Scotland and West Africa, where she made her performing debut at 13. Settling in Alabama, she worked closely with many blues greats, including Johnny Shines and Willie King (to whom the CD is dedicated) while also devoting herself to the award-winning Alabama Blues Project. Hearts Are Wild is a deep soul record that seduces the listener with uncommon passion.

With her personal and professional partner Rick Asherson (keyboards, harp, background vocals) and James “Mr. B” Brown (bass, guitar, background vocals), Dave Crenshaw (drums, percussion), Brad Guin (tenor sax), Chad Fisher (trombone), Rob Alley (trumpet) and Brice Miller (trumpet), Bond inhabits 10 originals co-written with Asherson, along with two cover tunes. The strutting “Dead Zone Blues” confirms she moved on from Janis and Bonnie long ago to find her own extraordinarily nuanced voice. Over the aching heart title track featuring Asherson on piano and organ, Bond questions her lover with, “Could this be love, sent down from above, or are you sent to test my soul” while squeezing out a sensuous guitar solo. “My Time” is a chunky blues-rocker making a humorous plea for respite from the contemporary phenomena of Facebook, MySpace, iPods and Twitter with, “I got what I wanted but lost what we had, but I got 2,000 friends – and that ain’t bad!” The bluesy piano of Asherson propels the swinging shuffle of “Drama Mama” as Bond issues a warning about a conniving woman and Miller embellishes with silky muted trumpet obbligatos.

The pulsing boogie of “You’re the Kind of Trouble” by Shannon and Adam Wright employs an electric piano sound and figure reminiscent of “Heard It Through the Grapevine” while Bond makes her case warning of the danger in being attracted to the “bad boy” that good women often find irresistible. The melancholy 12-bar blues of “Still Missing You” shows affecting vulnerability with, “I tried to find a new love, it don’t feel the same, wake up in the night, still call out your name, don’t know what to do, still missing you” that is inflamed by her slinky guitar solo. The easy grooving “Rick’s Boogie” is a musical valentine to Asherson with, “He puts the icing on my cake, the rhythm in my blues, that hip-shaking daddy’s guaranteed to make me move.” Aretha Franklin’s sexy “Baby I Love You” is a challenge to most singers, but Bond more than measures up with a version that could curl toes.

On “Nothing But the Blues” Bond, explores the theme of addiction and employs the unvarnished honesty of, “You talk the talk but you can’t walk the walk, round and round in circles just for one more rock” while “Mr. B.” picks a punchy guitar solo. The soul ballad “Falling” is an intimate expression of love with Bond tenderly imploring, “You had a real hard time, don’t dwell on the past, with a little time and a little work, we can make this love last” and featuring Guin’s arousing tenor solo. “I Like it Like that” is a funky blues ostensibly about “food” with Asherson’s harp pushing Bond to espouse double entendres like, “Cooks it up in the morning, even late at night.” Appropriately ending the set is “Since I Found Love” that builds into a rollicking vamp as Bond extols the virtues of seeking and finding true love.

Debbie Bond invests every lyric with her whole being. Using her voice like a precision instrument over which she exercises complete control, she has created a world where love is a worthwhile and attainable goal.

Dave Rubin, 2005 KBA recipient in Journalism