Betsy Franck and the Bareknuckle Band: Still Waiting

Betsy Franck and her energetic cohorts, the Bareknuckle Band, play an engaging, high-octane mix of blues, country, soul and funk, sometimes mashed together into a single song, all glued together by Franck’s voice. At times that voice is not quite up to the task, sounding a bit thin and strained in its role of master of ceremonies, but elsewhere it effectively conveys various degrees of yearning and defiance. The band’s able support switches nimbly from the country-rock of “Vine Ripe” to the brassy blues of “Lowdown” to the uptempo soul of “Too Much Trouble”, a song that channels some of the energy of Janis Joplin’s “As Good as You’ve Been to this World”. Franck is no Joplin — who is? — but the range and diversity of this set, coupled with the brash guitar of Scott Leon-O’Day and the funky, lowdown bass of Clint Swords, make for a fun listen regardless.