Album Notes

My son Al and I were collaborating on a blues song to honor my brother James “Son” Thomas, and the words “woman enough” found their way into my lyrics and stuck there. It captured my sentiment exactly for this project-“woman enough” to do whatever I want to do. Whether what I want to do has any relevance for anyone else remains to be seen. But it sure feels good to me to put together this CD at this stage of my life.



I have recorded two albums before—one of them was released by MCA in l983 shortly after my brother Al Perkins was murdered. “All About Love” was never really promoted. The earlier album was to have been released on the Lion label, but that deal fell apart although most of the songs were released as singles in l972.

This collection of songs contains some originals and some covers of my previously recorded material. “Can I” was released in l972 on the Lion label and made it up the charts to number 106. It is referred to as a “One Hit Wonder”. I included it here since it was one of my earliest and best.

I wrote “Your Song” for my late husband, Mark Channing in 1989. He recorded the song; Mark Bresky arranged it, but we never released it. I decided to sing it with him as a duet. The other duet, “Time” was written by my son, Nathaniel (AL) Allen, III. Al also does the Rap in the song. I really like it; it is unique.

The Title song—“Woman Enough” was co-written with my son Al who plays a funky Blues guitar in a style that he learned from his Uncle James “Son”Thomas.

The other songs are all statements from a woman who is “woman enough” to sing them. Although some seem cold, they really are not. They are survivor songs—honest songs—that have a different twist to them.

Without the Lower 911 Band who backs Dr. John, I would not have been able to do this project. I followed the Band out to Seattle last year to get this project started. We started this project at the Elliott Bay Recording Company with Scott Ross, engineer. Herman Ernest is a genius on the drums, John Fohl picked up on my messages and translated them into guitar rhythms, and David Barard was solid , soulful, and funky on the bass as always. Jeremy Ryan, a local keyboard player, helped out beautifully.

I came back to Michigan with a basic track and rough vocals. Richard Becker at PAC Three Recording Studio in Detroit helped to put “Time” together and introduced me to Gary Shunk who made a real difference on all the tracks he played on. Richard was a close friend of my Brother, Al Perkins and he was the engineer on the first “Can I” record.
I ended up with my friend Gene Fiero at Singlesound Studio in Brighton where everything finally came together. Gene’s patience, his wonderful ear, and his outstanding technical skills gave me the missing pieces of support that I needed to tie everything together.
David Barard and Cossetta Taylor, my niece and daughter of Al Perkins, provided great background vocals. Gene brought in a drummer ,Don Denniston for “Woman Enough”, and a fantastic saxophone player, Mark Kieme to complete my tracks. Mark’s sound is simply amazing.

Now, we’re good to go. I hope you like this collection. I am proud that I am finally able to say that I am “woman enough” to do whatever I want to do and MEAN IT!

Note:

For a recent discography of Vee Allen ,please refer to Derek Pearson’s
“Shades of Soul “ Magazine (June 2006) in which three entire pages describe Vee Allen’s musical pursuits.

Also, Vee allen is included in a recent (2007) CD release by the Numero Group out of Chicago in a tribute to Twinight records.