After the Rain
(Rounder)
It is ironic that it has taken a national disaster to focus attention on the huge amount of musical talent that still exists in New Orleans. Thomas has been the city’s soul queen since releasing a series of superb records in the 1960s, including the sorrowful It’s Raining. Her latest outing, recorded in Louisiana just a few months after hurricane Katrina had struck, returns to the life aquatic with the singer in a sombre but compelling mood. She tackles old blues standards such as Another Man Done Gone, Make Me a Pallet on Your Floor and Soul of a Man alongside the great Pomus- Shuman ballad I Count the Tears and the Arthur Alexander-penned In the Middle of it All. The backing, which includes contributions from the guitar heroes Corey Harris and Sonny Landreth, is sparse, but Thomas’s voice is still magnificent.
JOHN CLARKE