We haven’t yet had a chance to listen to Costa Rican blues guitarist and singer Jose Ramirez‘s Blues Music Award-nominated debut album Here I Come, but have certainly moved it closer to the top of our pile for checking out after hearing Ramirez’s latest single on Delmark Records, “Whatever She Wants” — a nod, according to Ramirez, to some of the old-school blues/soul singers such as Johnnie Taylor, Bobby Bland and Bobby Womack.
A slow blues burner in the vein of such classics as “The Thrill is Gone” and “Still Got the Blues”, “Whatever She Wants” includes some soulful, passion-soaked vocals and guitar from Ramirez, with a funky, organ-driven turn about halfway through that leads into a stinging guitar solo.
Though he’s just starting to become known here in the U.S. with his recent Blues Music Award nomination for best emerging artist album and a second-place finish during last year’s International Blues Challenge, Ramirez has already shared the stage with such names as Buddy Guy, Anson Funderburgh (who also produced Ramirez’s album), Janiva Magness, Mark Hummel, and the late “Braille Blues Daddy” Bryan Lee.
If the rest of his work is anything as good as this number, we suspect the blues world will be hearing a lot more about Ramirez in the months and years ahead!