RecommNeds | Ruby the RabbitFoot & Joan As Police Woman

You can stream this week’s RecommNeds and previous featured releases through these handy RDIO and Spotify playlists as part of the JamBase channels for each.

Ruby the RabbitFoot : New As Dew

Sometimes we just want to listen to some really great songs. Thankfully we have ladies making albums like this week’s picks. First up is Ruby The RabbitFoot, which is Athens, GA’s Ruby Kendrick. The formula on her maybe-breakout release, New As Dew, is utterly gimmick-free: these are great songs, sung in a style reminiscent of Jenny Lewis or Joni Mitchell, equally radio-ready sing-alongs as well-crafted gems. Kendrick’s voice is perfectly matched, not a knock-your-socks-off voice, but rather a confident vocal that loves the songs it’s singing…and vice versa. In a year with solid new music from Hurray for the Riff Raff and Lake Street Dive, Ruby is a bit of an unknown, under-the-radar keeper, that may very well be destined for bigger things.

Spotify: Ruby the RabbitFoot -New As Dew
Rhapsody: Ruby the RabbitFoot -New As Dew

Joan As Police Woman : The Classic

Joan Wasser is no newcomer, but perhaps we could still call her under-the-radar. As Joan As Police Woman, her mix of soul and rock and roll has always sounded wise beyond its years. Perhaps it takes an album called The Classic to break through to the next level. Wasser is a master collaborator and a bit of a musical polymath (plays violin, inspired by both Al Green) and you can just feel the expertise oozing through the entire album. There isn’t a weak song in the pick-your-favorite bunch, each one sounding a bit like something I might have heard on the radio when I was a kid being driven around by mom and dad. Horns and strings, harmonies and soul-grooves, this is nostalgia made new once again…today’s classic rock.

Spotify: Joan As Police Woman -The Classic
Rhapsody: Joan As Police Woman -The Classic

Written By: Aaron Stein