Blue Argon | Bluer Blues

Published: July 28, 2009

Webster’s says argon is a “colorless, odorless gas used in electric bulbs.” See it turn blue, shut all the other lights off, and you get a sultry collection of great cover tunes on the second effort by this Kalispell trio.  

Colleen Cunningham provides plenty of smolder with her whispery, smoky vocals. Rhythm guitarist Jim Clayborn plays oodles of fine bass runs to complement bluesy jazz chords, and lead guitarist Steve Sellars fingers creamy riffs just about everywhere. The result is a soft and slinky ambience, with vague whiffs of Steely Dan and Atlanta Rhythm Section chord progressions, rendered under that blue lamp.

Cunningham purrs her way through the tunes, coloring them with vocal touches of Tina Turner, Etta James, Nina Simone and maybe even Mavis Staples. I’m hooked by tune number three (one of my all-time favorite songs) – Dorothy Moore’s “Misty Blue.” Cunningham sings it without most of Moore’s throbbing pyrotechnics. It’s understated, raw, sorrowful, and we get the message. It’s cool, though, to hear her stretch one-syllable words like “blue” and “time” into about three or four. She’s got some good blues phrasing as she growls through her emotions during the songs.

Same with Etta James’s “Sugar in My Bowl.” Lots of sexy supplication here, and you can hear it as she weaves her way through the lyrics. Nice to hear a singer deliver the goods without going over the top like just about everyone else on popular radio these days.

Quirky wah-wah guitar effects highlight Bill Withers’s “Use Me”; and Robert Johnson’s pearl, “Crossroads,” gets the goose-bump treatment, courtesy of spooky harmonica work from Sellars.

The boys have fun combining two surf-rock instrumental classics on “Apache Pipeline,” played dreamily slow, and on the last cut, Cunningham sings an original written for her son, “Marley.” Nice production values here. Bring on the blue light!

Contact the trio at .

– Mariss McTucker