Elli De Mon Countin’ The Blues

(Her first album for Area Pirata Records, Countin’ The Blues features ten songs: some, such as Elizabeth Cotten’s ‘Freight Train’ or Bessie Smith’s ‘Blue Spirit Blues’ might be considered standards.
But the album contains also some lost treasures, unearthed by Elli and brought back into the light of day)We are proud to announce Elli is now part of the Area Pirata’s family.
Elli de Mon, for the best part of the past decade she’s been thrilling blues audiences across Europe with her unique take on the form. To say she’s a blues singer or blues guitarist is putting it waaay too simply: rezophonic guitar, drums, bells, voice and saturated sound – she is, in every sense, a real one woman band.

Strongly influenced by the primordial blues tradition (Bessie Smith, Fred Mc Dowell, Son House) crosshatched with primitive garage punk, Elli’s sound is shaped into a lysergic journey through her soul. Sharing stages with the likes of The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Reverand Beatman and Cedric Burnside, she’s released six albums since 2014, most recently a split release with the wonderfully-named psych-blues trio Daily Thompson.

During her pregnancy Elli wrote a book about the women blues artists of the 20s. The book Countin’ The Blues: Indomitable Women was published in February 2020. Elli decided to record the songs that she wrote about in the book, in tribute to these great women, whose art has been forgotten by most.

Her first album for Area Pirata Records, Countin’ The Blues features ten songs: some, such as Elizabeth Cotten’s ‘Freight Train’ or Bessie Smith’s ‘Blue Spirit Blues’ might be considered standards.
But the album contains also some lost treasures, unearthed by Elli and brought back into the light of day.

Recorded at Lesder Studio, Treviso with engineer Tommaso Mantelli, Elli accompanied herself on guitar, lapsteel, organ, drums and sitar. She arranged the whole album in a new key, close to her personal punkish style. A modern Ma Rainey playing dirty rock’n’roll!

TRACKLIST
LP:
Side A
1. Prove It On Me Blues – Ma Rainey
2. Blue Spirit Blues – Bessie Smith
3. Downhearted Blues – Alberta Hunter
4. Shave ‘Em Dry – Lucille Bogan
5. Dope Head Blues – Victoria Spivey

Side B
1. Freight Train – Elizabeth Cotten
2. Wayward Girl Blues – Lottie Kimbrough
3. When The Levee Breaks – Memphis Minnie
4. Trouble In Mind – Bertha Chippie Hill

Bonus track "Last Kind Words Blues" – Geeshie Wiley

Recorded, mixed and mastered by Tommaso Mantelli at Lesder Studio in Treviso, Italy.
Bonus track "Last Kind Words" recorded and mixed by Bruno Barcella and Alessio Lonati at Tup Studio, Brescia, Italy.

Cover Photo: Denis Ulliana
Design: Riccardo Bucchioni

REVIEWS

NUZZ Prowling WOLF Blogspot 28/05/2021

Elli De Mon is an Italian one women band, Countin’ The Blues….is her sixth album,
and is what it says on the tin, clues are in the title. Ten tracks of music originally performed in the 1920’s by the forgotten (unlike their male counterparts) American female blues musicians. Elli De Mon has injected a new garage punkish soul and sleaze into their songs, with guitar, lapsteel, organ, drums and sitar all played by Elli, these are well produced, dirty, simple, solid and sexy songs that storm the gates of hell. A fuckin’ amazin’ stuff. Fuck Jack White! This is Elli De Mon!