Gina Coleman’s newest release does not simply revisit the past. It pulls it into the present, breathing fresh life into songs that still have plenty to say.
This is no nostalgic tribute. It is a record that understands the blues as a living language, still able to cut deep and speak plainly.
Best known as the driving force behind Misty Blues, Coleman steps into Ida Cox’s formidable catalogue with confidence and purpose. She balances respect for the source material with a clear willingness to reshape it in her own voice.
From the opening bars, it is clear she is not interested in preservation for its own sake.
Tracks such as Graveyard Dream Blues keep their ghostly, vaudeville edge, while Coleman’s vocal walks the line between theatrical storytelling and raw confession. Subtle guitar textures and a measured rhythm section deepen the atmosphere without overcrowding the song.
Elsewhere, Wild Women Don’t Have the Blues arrives with renewed swagger, Coleman tapping into Cox’s unapologetic independence while bringing her own lived experience to every phrase. One Hour Mama simmers with playful defiance, its double meaning delivered with a knowing smile.
Throughout Uncrowned, Coleman’s connection to Cox feels natural rather than studied. Cox, long celebrated as the Uncrowned Queen of the Blues, was a woman who wrote her own rules, and that same spirit runs through this album.
Coleman’s voice carries both grit and grace, able to deliver a hard-edged statement one moment and intimate tenderness the next.
The band understands its role perfectly. The instrumentation is purposeful and restrained, with clean expressive guitar lines, steady rhythms, and just enough detail to colour the edges. It is a sound that keeps the songs front and centre.
Coleman is not simply covering Ida Cox. She is in conversation with her, bridging a century of blues history with a voice rooted firmly in the present.
In doing so, she honours Cox’s legacy while reaffirming the enduring power of women’s voices in the blues.
Reviewed by Colin Campbell
