Sing You Sinners (Bonus Tracks)

iTunes Review

Mining jazz, vaudeville, showtunes and blues from the first half of the 20th century and then interjecting her own touches of calypso, rockabilly and surf, Erin McKeown wants her music to be fun. There’s no room for brooding with this gal. With a gifted voice that sounds both contemporary and thrown back to a distant age, McKeown wraps up a dizzying array of influences into one concise package. Fats Waller, Anita O’Day, Johnny Mercer, Judy Garland and Cole Porter are not so much updated as re-introduced as seen fit with a live band that owns the material on command. A clarinet here, a shuffle there and a McKeown original (“Melody”) that fits seamlessly, Sing You Sinners has an ecstatic spirit that’s difficult to resist. Her Brown University ethnomusicology degree gives her confidence with the material that allows her band to improvise knowingly. Whether singing it straight-up sentimental (“They Say It’s Spring”) or finding the ‘50s R&B groove (“Thanks for the Boogie Ride”), McKeown makes a case for revising the classics.