We love our independent artists here on Revolution Radio Online, but there is one artist who rightly claimed the crown of 'The First Lady of the Revolution', and that is Rebecca Downes. Her rocked up blues album "More Sinner Than Saint" won the ROAR* for Best Album of the Year and she herself won the ROAR for Best Artist of the Year in 2020 (for 2019). Apart from being one of the hardest working musicians out there, she is also one of the nicest, most modest, fan-centric artists you could hope to meet.

And if that sounds like I might be a bit smitten, let me tell you, I'm not the only one at this station who is. And we're not the only ones. Her fans love her as much as she loves her fans.

So let's fast forward to June 2021, and of course 2020 was a truly awful year for all of us, but especially for musicians, and especially for musicians who need live performances to, well, live on, and most especially for those who are only truly happy holding a mic in front of an audience. Rebecca Downes has been in pain. She has felt the absence of a live audience in her soul. How do I know this? Because of "Stripped Back", her new album featuring paired back, semi-acoustic versions of her most loved songs.

It's all there if you listen carefully enough. Never has her voice sounded so soulful, so intimately singing for each and every listener as the individual audiences that we currently are (or have been). She loves us and she feels the pain of our separation. She has put her heart and soul into this album, which is a love song to you, as you listen to it. You only have to listen properly to understand that.

That is not to say she over-sings, far from it. But there's a soft fragility in her singing (note, I said singing, not her voice; that is as strong and full as ever) that conveys everything Rebecca is feeling. So much so at times, I had to wipe a tear from my eye.

In effect this album is beautiful, all the performances have just the right mix of soul and laid back ease to let the songs flourish and Rebecca's voice- for it is always that voice that we must come back to- to soar free and alive.

Kudos to her partner in crime, Steve Birkett (who is surely one of the most under-rated guitarists currently out there in music-land), and the rest of the team involved in this album, which was recorded and mixed during the lock-down proper. That is, from separate homes! From the soulful harmonica that wails softly in the distance on 'Take Me Higher', to the gently Hammond-sounding-organ underlay on 'It Hurts', to wonderful acoustic guitar on 'Sailing On A Pool of Tears', this is an album lovingly constructed and performed by musicians at the top of their game. And let's not forget the fabulous single "Blues for Us", with its clever nod to a classic song or two from the past (you can work that out for yourselves, I'm not doing all the work lol), and a vibe that is pure velvet glove wrapped over a bruised heart. If you never knew how much Rebecca loved us, you will by the end of this song.

And above all, it's THAT voice that brings it all together, that grabs you gently by the scruff of your ear lobes and says "listen to my heartache and let me fill the ether with my music".

On one of those fabulous pictures of Rebecca Downes taken by Mal Whichelow, he added the caption "Rebecca lost in the music as usual", to which I replied without even thinking: "Rebecca Downes is music."

And so it is. If music is the magic of this Universe, then I would say about Rebecca Downes that: "The Magic is strong with this one."**

To buy the album, your could go to Amazon and iTunes and all the other e-shops, and also add her music to your Spotify and Amazon Music streaming services (others are available), but it's better to have to physical product, and even better to buy direct from https://www.rebeccadownes.com/shop and put money directly in the hands of the artists.

And whilst you're waiting for it to arrive, listen to the stream of your choice (I'm listening via Alexa to the album again as I write, even though the physical copy is right behind me).

Now for her live gigs and next album. I cannot wait.

* Revolution radio Online AwaRd (ROAR)

**with full respect to Darth Vader of course lol