This Angel can belt the blues like there’s no tomorrow

By Laurie Morrisey

I know with a name like Angel Bouchet you expect a real southern gal—and you’re right, southern Oregon, that is. She’s the first generation of her family born in Oregon. Past generations came from Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Tennessee, so that blues vibe has been bred in her. “With a name like mine, I was bound to fall into blues. I inherited the name from my great grandmother.”

Angel is new on the blues scene—pretty much new to singing professionally. “I started singing at weddings a few years ago, but didn't start singing with a live band until 2009. When I was a kid I knew I'd be a writer when I grew up, I just didn't know I'd end up writing blues songs,” she said.

“My mother still has a video of me singing ‘Joy to the World’ with a live band at the Okie Picnic in Grants Pass when I was 7. I didn't know the verses, but I sang the heck out of that chorus... repeatedly,” Angel said.

Her Music

“I've been influenced by a lot of folks, including Ella Fitzgerald, Koko Taylor, Janis Joplin and even Johnny Cash. For years, as a kid, I sat in trees with my brick of a cassette deck and sang along with anything I could get my hands on. When I did the same thing in college I got looked at funny,” she said with a shrug. “I met Johnny Cash when I was 15 and he performed at our county fair. He was big and handsome and wore black, and very generously took time to chat me. I'll never forget it.”

Her Band

Kathy Black is the drummer in the band. She's been playing with Angel since the beginning of 2011. John Arevalo, on guitar, joined in May of 2011. They have a selection of professional bass players who play with them in turn. Right now they're working with Corvin Blacke, who also plays with the Twangshifters. “All in all we're pretty new to each other, but meshing well and it shows. I'm really proud of my musicians and honored to be working with people of their caliber. I'd like to shout out to all of my former band mates...they all taught me something and that’s why I'm where I am today.”

When asked “Who have you played with?” her response was, “Oh heck, a better question is, who wants to play with me? John Arevalo, who spent seven years with the Righteous Brothers, says he plays with me because, ‘Quite honestly you're the best blues singer in the area...and you make good coffee.’—Thanks, John...the secret is to start with whole beans.”

Her Music

When describing her music, Angel said, “I write and sing blues, real blues, the kind that tumbles your insides. Even when John and I set a song to a rock or funk beat, it's a blues tune played in blue notes with blues lyrics or forms. If I write a crossover tune, it's by accident. So if you love blues, I'm your woman...wait, there's a song in that...”

Instruments

“I'm a blues shouter and singer. My voice is my primary instrument. I know from experience that a lot of musicians don't think much of you as a female vocalist unless you play an instrument, so I bought myself a guitar and taught myself ten chords and how to play basic blues song structures. I'm not skilled enough to play publicly, but I know how the music is put together and how to communicate my music needs to my band mates. In the words of one guitarist, ‘You explain your music pretty well...for a girl singer.’"

Angels says she is mostly self taught. “I sang a lot as a kid, so much that my mother finally told me to, ‘Shut up and sit down, you can't sing.’ She was probably right. Ten years later I spent two hours at a piano with an opera trained vocalist who taught me how to hear myself. The song she used was Ella Fitzgerald's ‘Summertime.’”

“Last year I took about eight lessons from a local vocal coach. I'd been suffering from sinus problems that kept me from hitting the high notes and she was great at working through those issues with me. I'm finally getting a handle on the sinus problems and now I'm working on expanding my range back to where it was before I caught the H1N1 virus that started the sinus issues back in December, 2009.”

When asked about awards she had won, she had this to say: “I was the second best speller in the county when I was a kid, received a trophy for newspaper carrier of the month when I was 13, and got most improved bowler when I was 15…but The Angel Bouchet Band is working on our first Grammy right now.”

Upcoming CD releases

“We are currently working on our first two albums. The first will be a mix of swampy/rockin' tunes and more traditional slow blues. The second is an album of fusion blues. That one will be a mix of blues styles. Both will contain all originals, including our recently most requested, ‘Dirty Little Angel.’”

“We have enough material for a couple more CDs and more seem to accrue at an alarming rate. I'm concurrently working on a disk of slow blues, something to play during dinner when you get tired of Sinatra and need a little something grittier or for that candlelit fireside dance lesson. It may have to contain a warning label…‘The surgeon general has noted that this music causes a crescendo in feeling likely to create a desire in the listener to smoke a post song cigarette...which has been proven to stop folks from wanting to kiss you.’”

Closing Comments

“I'm enjoying getting to know the fans and musicians in the Willamette Valley. I hit jams and gigs four and five nights a week and try to support other musicians when I can. I want to remind folks that this isn't a competition. None of us can play every venue every night, there's room for all of us. If I find a new venue, I'm going to call my musician friends and send them to get a gig there. We have to love what we do because none of us are making much of a living at this. We're still being paid wages from the 60's, so it's important we do what we can to take care of each other.”

“Right now I'm just enjoying getting our original music into the public ear, but next year...WBF and Memphis, of course! So look for our soon to be released CD, and if you're enjoying the music folks, come on out and ‘Get your Angel on!’”

To listen to some of her songs and learn more about The Angel Bouchet Band, visit them at www.facebook.com/AngelBouchetBand. You can also find them performing at the Cascade Blues Association Holiday Party, December 14^th, at The Melody Ballroom. “We'll play a little something special for you under the mistletoe...,” she said.

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