Album Notes

Acoustic guitar icon Gayla Drake Paul turns her capable hands to the blues with "Restless," a newly released 15-song collection of original acoustic blues from Ivanhoe Road Music. The songs range from the whimsical "Nana's Cookies," to the tongue in cheek "Man In Memphis," to the sultry "Only a Breath Away," which has been described as "a lullaby for adults...who are not very tired." The playing is masterful, understated and subtle, complementing the familiar 12-bar motif with a delicate twist of Celtic modality; on the title cut, "Restless," she even uses "Irish standard tuning," DADGAD, paying homage to her years as a traditional Irish musician. Gayla's agile voice, always beautifully expressive, is at it's most seductive here, from breathy to powerful, drenched with longing, and recorded with an intimacy that would terrify a lesser artist.

Fans of Gayla's earlier music will delight in her interpretation of this musical medium. Her ability take on a multitude of styles and make them her own is on full display here as she fearlessly follows the 12-bar blues from pop to country to jazz to Delta; with every turn that road takes she is unmistakably herself.

The songwriting is superlative. Iowa blues guru Bob Dorr received an early demo copy and immediately put it in rotation on his weekly radio program, Down on the Corner, stating, "There's not a single song here that I don't like," high praise from the veteran blues musician and radio programmer for midwest powerhouse KUNI. KCCK radio's Bob DeForest quickly followed suit on his program, Da Blues. Veteran songwriter and blues guitarist BeJae Fleming calls the songwriting "accessible, but at the same time skillful, precise and sophisticated. To my ear this is an outstanding project. It is inspired without mimicry, authentic and original."

This is Gayla's 8th national release, following her "Retrospective" compilation from 2002, once again reinventing herself and forging new territory in a familiar genre. She is widely considered to be one of the top acoustic guitarists in the world (see http://www.digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/best_acousticddd.html)
and her first recording was named one of the top 5 female folk recordings of the 1990's.

For more information on Gayla, please go to the page for her "Retrospective" CD/CD-Rom within this site.