There's really no pigeonholing Marshall Chapman, a veteran roots rocker who has been kicking around since the '70s, producing strong work that is largely unheard outside of a devoted cult. Blaze of Glory, her 2013 album, captures everything that has made her so endearing to the devoted. Certainly, she can rock hard -- the opening "Love in the Wind" is a dynamite piece of slinky, skeletal Bo Diddley beat, then she gets down and dirty on "I Don't Want Nobody" -- but she's just as likely to slip into a Hoagy Carmichael cover, bring the perennial "Blues Stay Away from Me" to an old-fashioned honky tonk, ease along on a vague, warm haze on "Dreams & Memories," then turn truly eccentric on "Call the Lamas," which doesn't belong to any distinct style. Such eclecticism may have prevented her from attracting a mass audience, but it results in some truly compelling music, including this fine latter-day album.
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