Big Pink Music 
Brenda Patterson (US,1973,re.2011)***°
Arkansas based Brenda Paterson already got attention on her first album, “Keep On Keep On” (1972) backed by the native American band Redbone. Brought forward further as the next Janis Joplin, her approach with sharp American accents in her voice, the earliest tracks on this second album are a bit more spiced up with country than with blues and rock, but the blues association somewhere remains as an omnipresent quality. Her voice often is slightly raspy : she definitely has the blues. On a track like “Jesus on the mainline”, like the title could suggest, she adds the influence of gospel too. “Bury me down by the river” is even more into this gospel area. “I'm gonne be strong” is a slower crooner, while on “Mine All Mine” after this she screams the hell out of her. “In my girlish days” then again is more old time blues. The album ends with a more emotional slow blues sadness. Lots of musicians participated in the arrangements. The songs were kept compact, were often able to add some kind of groove.
According to a Grateful Dead website some GD members appeared in the sessions, and also the Ry Cooder website mentions his participation on several tracks. I have noticed Brenda would later appear on Dylan's “Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid” album, and who knows where else she has appeared. According to some articles, she never got the attention she deserved for after-all the area mostly was man dominated. The album was originally released on Playboy Records. She made three more solo albums.
