Thanks to the recommendations of the right Reverend Robert , I was introduced to the very powerful presense of blues master performer; Rory Block, performing at "the Barns" at Wolf Trap in Northern Virginia. The Barns is actually a fully and loveingly restored post-&-beam barn with exquisitely professional accoustics & stage lighting ,but the rough hewn wood , with every texture & shade of graceful age wood can assume arrayed in a ptachwork quilt , was just "the" perfect "natural habitat" for this master blues artist. Thorow in the totally unabashed Full Moon
blazing down upon this gathering and it was Rory's evening to do with what she will which she does oh so thoroughly well.
She entered the stage with what appeared to be a restrained confidence and grace. It's only notciable as such when in contrast to the artist that comes to full throttle the moment she puts her metal slide to her Martin and that's when she begins to literally "strutt" her stuff so that you are not only "payin' attention" but are taken by knowing ,in "no' uncertain terms, that one is in the presense of a master craftsman givning all that they have learned, cultivated , fine tuned and then made their own.
Her signature on both her guitar mastery and with "that voice" just command the room and you are eminded why you came out to see someone "live" because "live" is what she gives you.
Her voice is reminiscinet of Mellisa Ehteridge's only without the constant gravelly Rod Stewart-ness to it. She can make that voice growl and roar when she feels the song needs it , but it is always under her command. She's not just singin' tunes ,she's
outright "performing" each piece as "living works" and you get the full force of the life she breathes into them with such relaxed authority.
Yeah there's a definite "swagger" in the way she plays her Martin and "testifies" with that voice that would shy away not a few lesser male performers. She's carefully safe harbored a true "wild nature" , wonderfully accentuated by keeping her lioness' mane regally long , within the presense of an articulate and sophisticated artist . A "Delta Galladriel " and a living treasure not even halfway through what she's yet got to share with the rest of us.
The only thing I could possibly add was after telling her how much I was taken by her performance I had to tell her how much of that gift that comes out "live" needs to be captured on a CD; a DVD anthology of several select performances would be even better. I just can't stress enough that ,no matter how much of a perfectionist one is in the studio ,there's just that unique level of miraculous energy that comes from a "live" performance that just can "not' be captured , like lightening in a bottle ,within the safe house of a studio. If she would just allow herself to have tours taped so she can have a wealth of material to sift through and sellect those "miraculous moments" she will probably have produced her most important recording ever and that would be the one that takes off ,grabs the rest of the music listening public by the scruff of the ear, and make wake-up and take notice that
yet another "Lady is singing the Blues" like noooooobody.

Yeah, I'm not at all embarassed to admit that obviously I'm smitten. She strikes me as the type of woman that is always more comfortable in pants than a dress , almost never bothers with make-up while keeping her hair as long as she can stand it and can hold her own as a true master craftsman/artist with the boys while never being "one" of them . This was the type of woman that got me to move to willingly abandon Manhattan to live with her in Virginia so I know this type only too well and it is my pleasure that the good Lord keeps truning them out and ,every once in a while blesses them with the gift of a pasionate musical talent. Another way to define her is as a far more refined version of the grit and swagger of , say, a Janis Joplin , but thankfully minus the whiskey & drugs and thus we still have Rory with us blossoming all to crazy with the blues and will for as many years from now as when she first started.

Rory Block's a natural and true American treasure so look to cathc her when she comes a-courtin armmed with her Martin because you "will" have felt the Blues as it was meant to be;
awake and alive and a-breathin' heavy when it needs to.