Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.
Recorded at a Mississippi studio frequented by blues great Junior Kimbrough, the duo’s second album makes a fabulous racket. Melissa Swingle seems adrift in a cough-syrup haze when she croons tales of desire and existential confusion, but her raspy guitar and Laura King’s nasty drumming provide a rude jolt of energy. Amid the fury, it’s easy to overlook their secret weapon: a wicked sense of humor. “Foxy Brown” celebrates the action-movie icon, noting, “She’s got a black belt in bar stool”; the sneering “Brainwash” proclaims, “No more gigs in biker bars!”” In the words of “I Think I Love You,” Blackwing Yalobusha is “good and sloppy / Like a drunken kiss.”
