Whitney Shay Stand Up! (CD)

(Ruf)12 tracks.
Stand Up! It's not just an album title, it's an order, forcing anyone who hears Whitney Shay's brand of rocket-fueled R&B onto the dancefloor. A flame-haired stick of dynamite in a sparkling dress, this San Diego phenomenon has made a record for dancing, drinking and dreaming, with songs to soundtrack the peaks and punches of life. Stand Up! Is sure to mark the global explosion of a singer-songwriter who's long been threatening to go 'boom'.

Coming up the old-fashioned way - with a thousand word-of-mouth shows blazing her reputation across the planet - Shay's first decade has seen four wins at the San Diego Music Awards, a nomination at last year's prestigious Blues Music Awards and the tag of "future blues icon" bestowed by Blues Matters! #magazine. Whether you picked up 2012's debut album, Soul Tonic, caught up with her on 2018's acclaimed A Woman Rules The World - or heard her songs on major TV networks including HBO and NBC - you're probably already a fan, whether you realise it or not.

But having signed to Ruf last year, Shay is set to paint the world red in 2020. Tracking at Austin's Wire Recording Studio with producer Kaz Kazanoff, Stand Up! saw the singer let the good vibes flow. Setting the pace with the title track's brassy soul and smoky quickfire vocal, this new record's upbeat moments twist from the rolling groove of Tell The Truth to the dirtied-up funk of P.S. It's Not About You, with Shay's all-star studio band rising to the occasion.