Artist:     Veronica Lewis

Album:     You Ain’t Unlucky

Label:     Blue Heart Records

Release Date:     2.19.21

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You Ain’t Unlucky is a surprising debut in many ways. Pushing into the generally overcrowded blues music market, it comes from a young lady who is already making her mark in the field, with a number of major awards tucked into her belt. Winner of the 2020 Boston Music Awards, Blues Artist of the Year, Veronica Lewis has a boatload of potential on the basis of this opening recording salvo.

In recent years, Lewis has picked up numerous, largely local awards for her hard-driving keyboard skills and powerful vocal delivery, “local” ranging from Nashville to Boston and most parts in between. With a driving delivery and downright determined, thumping piano style she clearly displays on this release, she equally clearly knows what she’s doing and where she’s headed. Six tracks of the eight tracks are self-penned, with two covers. She is evidently influenced by many early piano pioneers, from Pinetop Perkins and Otis Spann to Jerry Lee Lewis, with strong shades of rock’n’roll and rockabilly striking through on most tracks.

Though this album might be seen by some to be somewhat predictable in format, with a choppy twelve-bar bias and a typical seventh-ending repeat echo on many tracks, there remains enough of interest to catch the ear here. The opening, title track is easily one of the best featured, with Lewis positively working the keys and a voice that holds enough grit to keep the edge in place.

In some ways, being a debut offering, some leeway might be expected, with immediate and near-inevitable comparisons with two other major, piano-playing blues artists coming to mind, Marcia Ball and Victor Wainwright. But while Lewis may have yet to reach the high bar set by that pair, she appears to be entirely on track to chase their illustrious tail-coats with a hint of musical menace. Listening to this mature, self-assured performance, it’s always worth taking on board the simple and genuinely surprising fact that Veronica Lewis is but a teenager, a 17-year-old blueslady with a boatload of passion and potential.

—Iain Patience