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Jo Serrapere & the Willie Dunns - Tonight at Johnny's Speakeasy (John Devine/Jo Serrapere, BMI 2002)

By Elizabeth Nitz

Jo Serrapere, one of Detroit's most eclectic singer/songwriters, has just released a live album, Tonight at Johnny's Speakeasy. She defies categorization as each song taps a different musical vein. She performs, with her band the Willie Dunns, a collection of her original roots rock, folk, blues, swing, jazz and alt-country songs as well as covers by Tom Waits, Mississippi John Hurt and her co-producer, John Devine.

Jo's old-style attitude, attention to detail and cryptic lyrics are similar to Erin McKeown or Rickie Lee Jones, but her sound is totally unique. As expected, her voice, tone, and style vary with the music. She changes from a howling wail in "Oklahoma of My Heart" to a sweet whisper in folk tune "Ann Arbor Days" so effectively it is hard to determine whether it is the same person. Either way she is an unforgettable singer.

"Jesus Wears Red" opens the concoction with a bang. The slow-driving rock song adds bass fiddle and smoky electric guitar to Jo's sultry voice to create fun, rootsy music. She gets introspective in the slow country ballad "I Will," but cuts loose in the jazzy "Living Well," letting her voice squeak like an old record as she bemoans that she's "sick to death of living well because life without you is a living hell."

Tom Waits' "Walking Spanish" features bassist Jef Reynolds on raspy vocals. Devine's "Shoe Shine Man" is a funny blues number. She ends the album with "Jesus in a Snowball," a wonderfully blasphemous tune about a truck-stop gift-shop figurine. Jo and the Willie Dunns are talented enough to experiment with this much variety and make it sound professional but not too refined, and very entertaining but never too serious.

For more information visit www.joserrapere.com