Rory Block Premieres New Song, "Sugar In My Bowl"

(Image credit: Sergio Kurhajec)

Recently, master country blues guitarist Rory Block decided to put a decades-old idea of hers into action. The project—which she dubbed "Power Women of the Blues"—is dedicated to identifying, celebrating and honoring the work of iconic female blues artists, many of whom never experienced the recognition and commercial success that the Sixties blues revival brought to many of the genre's male stars.

The first entry in Block's "Power Women of the Blues" series is A Woman’s Soul, a tribute to the legendary Bessie Smith. Today, we're delighted to premiere the latest single from that album, Block's terrific cover of Smith's "Sugar in My Bowl." You can give it a listen below.

“’Sugar in My Bowl’ might be the sexiest song Bessie Smith ever recorded," Block told Guitar World. "This track came together immediately, as it really wanted to stay simple and clear. The vocal felt like something I've been wanting to sing my whole life. The words are direct and wonderfully bawdy, Bessie Smith style—if she sang it, I'm good with it!”

A Woman’s Soul is set for a July 6 release via Stony Plain Records. You can check out its tracklist below.

A Woman’s Soul Track Listing

1. Do Your Duty 4:19

2. Kitchen Man 4:01

3. Jazzbo Brown from Memphis Town 3:36

4. Gimme a Pigfoot and a Bottle of Beer 3:47

5. Need a Little Sugar in My Bowl 3:20

6. I’m Down in the Dumps 6:09

7. Black Mountain 4:15

8. Weeping Willow Blues 4:11

9. On Revival Day 3:53

10. Empty Bed Blues 6:36

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Jackson Maxwell

Jackson is an Associate Editor at GuitarWorld.com. He’s been writing and editing stories about new gear, technique and guitar-driven music both old and new since 2014, and has also written extensively on the same topics for Guitar Player. Elsewhere, his album reviews and essays have appeared in Louder and Unrecorded. Though open to music of all kinds, his greatest love has always been indie, and everything that falls under its massive umbrella. To that end, you can find him on Twitter crowing about whatever great new guitar band you need to drop everything to hear right now.