Susan Tedeschi: Hope And Desire : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Susan Tedeschi's blessing and curse is that she sings remarkably like Bonnie Raitt, which makes this Berklee School of Music graduate both extraordinary but unfortunately still a student. She's also a respectable songwriter and an able guitarist, yet on her first album in three years, Tedeschi puts those lesser talents temporarily aside to focus on her fiery interpretations of often overlooked soul, rock, blues, folk and gospel tracks assembled for this raw but exceedingly well-played Joe Henry-produced set. The uninitiated may continue to confuse her with the pop-blues veteran on her relatively relaxed readings of the Stones' "You Got the Silver" and Bob Dylan's "Lord Protect My Child." But by the time she tackles Jerry Merrick's long and winding "Follow," a Sixties folk epic most associated with Richie Havens, Tedeschi wails with such conviction, force and nuance that she nearly eclipses her teachers.