1 Take Your Shoes Off
    2 Baby's Gonna Leave
    3 Life Is a River
    4 Love Has Left (The Building)
    5 Appreciate Me
    6 All My Kisses
    7 Cool Your Engine
    8 6 O'Clock Blues
    9 The Lust
    10 Uphill Climb

Straight Up! blends the wailing voice of singer/songwriter Janet Ryan, a recent arrival from southern Fairfield County, Connecticut, by way of Chicago, Illinois, with the talents of Holyoke, Massachusetts, blues guitarist/singer Ray Chaput. The feel of the music is blues, and it's combined with a unique soulful sound that takes the music to another level. You can feel the influence of Etta James and Janis Joplin, the blues of Buddy Guy and Junior Wells, and the soul of Otis Redding and Aretha Franklin.

Janet Ryan and Straight Up are a hard working band. In addition to headlining many gigs, they have opened for James Cotton, Rod Piazza and the Mighty Fliers, the Holmes Brothers, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Sugar Ray and the BlueTones, Magic Dick and J. Geils, Monster Mike Welch, Dickey Betts, Michael Hill's Blues Mob, and Charles Neville, among others.

Janet Ryan has become a recognizable name in Western Massachusetts since moving here from Southern Connecticut in 1998. Before moving to Connecticut, Janet developed a taste for the blues while living in Chicago, where she soaked up the blues in the juke joints of the Northside. In 1988, she brought her powerful blues presence to the East coast. Janet earned her living performing throughout the Tri State area. (Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York State.) Since moving to the Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts, Janet won the 2002 Valley Advocate newspapers readers poll for best vocalist, and her band Straight Up! won an award from the Valley Advocate for best Blues Band. She completed two CD's in three years, and held her most recent CD release party for a full house at Theodores' in Springfield, MA. Other recent shows include performances at the Taste of Northampton, MA, the Pioneer Valley Blues Festival, the Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton, MA, and the the Pines Theatre in Northampton among many other band and solo shows. Since the release of her first CD "Passion and Fire" and continuing with her latest CD "Wrapped Up In Blue", she and her band Straight Up! have exploded into the local club scene, and continue to blow the audiences away with their high energy rocking blues.

In addition to being a performing songwriter, (Janet wrote all of the material on the latest release) Janet teaches voice and piano at Community Music School of Springfield, as well as maintaining a group of private students in her home in Conway, Massachusetts. Janet has been teaching fifty students for the last year! ---cdbaby.com

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01. He Burned That Bridge
02. What I Like Best
03. Tired Of Talking
04. Mr. Misery
05. What Was I Thinking
06. This Heart Of Mine
07. First To Say Goodbye
08. Love Has Left The Building
09. Say Goodbye
10. Learn To Let It Go
11. Woman Be Wise
12. Destination Anywhere
13. Take Your Shoes Off

Janet Ryan - vocal
Ray Chaput - guitar
Joe Elliot - B3 hammond
Dennis LeBeau - da bass
Billy Klock – drums

Janet Ryan is “Mama Soul” and that ain’t no lie. Ryan has a strong, huge voice, and she is not afraid to use it. Her newest album, Mama Soul, is evidence of this. Ryan discovered her love of blues years ago while living in Chicago. Frequenting the juke joints of that city’s north side, she listened and learned from some of the best blues has to offer, including Magic Slim and Koko Taylor. She even sang with Duke Ellington at the tender age of 16. Ryan is well known in the Northeast having spent a lot of time performing in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut at numerous venues, as well as playing the club circuit.

The album title, Mama Soul, is the nickname a friend gave her. This album offers 13 songs; some by Ryan and the band, some from the Texas band, Crosscut, and the Sippie Wallace blues “Woman Be Wise.” Of course the album has blues, but it also has gospel, and R&B influenced material. Overall, the sound is very much that of a good club band. The musicianship here is extremely good, and the production is well done. The only thing missing is the club warmth and ambiance. (Think analog versus digital.)

There are several standout tracks here. “He Burned That Bridge” is a juggernaut, with jumping piano and some nice slide work. There’s the jazzy “What I Like Best” with some nice guitar comping and keyboarding. “Mr. Misery” is slow, with haunting guitar licks, solid backing from the band, and the best vocal on the album. “First To Say Goodbye,” with its Memphis sound, really showcases the talented playing of this band. Another track that highlights the band’s talent is “Love Has Left The Building,” which also has a good vocal turn by Ryan. “Women Be Wise,” is really well done, with its low key, easy vocal, nice brushwork, and smooth guitar.

There is a lot to enjoy here. Our one quibble is that while Ryan does have a strong, powerful voice, there are times when nuance in a vocal is much more beneficial to a song than full out all the way through. Also: Being coy and delicate is one thing, and being tentative is something else entirely. We look forward to seeing what Ryan does next. ---Barry Kerzner, americanbluesscene.com

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