Sassy sophomore sonic from South Wales, by way of London and Nashville. Laura Evans joins the British Blues coven.

Release Date : 24th October 2025

Label : Self-Released

Format : CD / Vinyl /Digital

A British BLUES COVEN?

We seem to be on the edge of a golden time for British women in, broadly, blues territory, given the likes of Elles Bailey and SJ Mortimer (Morganway), howling their hearts out on a regular basis. I’m talking mainly vocalists, but let’s not forget also Joanne Shaw Taylor, who is now as accomplished a singer as she always was on guitar, and you’ll be catching my drift. Time now to add another name, that of Laura Evans, a pocket tycoon from the Welsh valleys.

Her niche is that cosy corner between blues, rock and pop, with a little bit of country thrown in too, for good measure. Her spin on it is nuanced by a strong retro feel of the UK pop charts of the early 70’s, a time when Top of the Pops would routinely feature bands like Free, Rodgers and Co. adept at blending commercial hooks to their otherwise authentic strut.

Evans is no svengali led ingenue, having been steadfastly paying her dues over these past years, honing her craft in the U.S., ahead supporting such artists as Robben Ford over here. Actually a classmate of both Billie Piper and Amy Winehouse, at Sylvia Young’s famed stage school, she has often used some of her talents from there to pay her way in pursuit of her muse; until recently it was stints on cruise ships, for half the year, that you’d find her, as well as having a back story in kids TV.

LEATHER TROUSERED SWAGGER

With opening track, Wherever You Are, leaping out with a leather trousered swagger, this is the song that lays down hardest her template. The low chug of bass and guitar underwrite a catchy scaffolding for her vocals, which carry a distinct hit of Adele, were she to pursue more elemental fare. Licks of guitar solo around and about her vocals, and those of the backing chorale. Anther point of reference might be very early Texas, which is clearly no bad thing. Root bass is again the backdrop for Superman, where some r’n’b flavours join the pot, again echoing Ms. Spiteri. This is all essentially retro, if with an eye on current production values, the desk jockey here being Ian Barter, who has provided similar for Paloma Faith and the aforementioned Winehouse.

Honest becomes more her own, a no nonsense chug with a tune that sticks. The meter skips through some sly sideways steps and it, after the first two songs, each of which have been singles, helps the album bed in. That and the catchy chorus: “ I don’t think that you can love me, if I’m being honest‘, drills into your ear, bolstered with a brisk meat and potatoes drum beat. Lulled, perhaps, by that, the next song bounces out on a very familiar drum beat, at least to those of a certain age. But bad men wrapped in bacofoil shouldn’t be the sole keepers of this rhythm, so full marks to her for reviving it, and with such a chunky song, too. A gloriously bittersweet fuck you to a previous, it’s called ATM, and the words are both witty and fully identifiable with, whatever your sex.

ASSURED AND ENTHUSIASTIC

Nobody Loves Me Like You Do, addressed, I guess to a different suitor, is a then a sumptuous slow and bluesy number, with a hammond washing gently beneath her. The playing is now more assured, surpassing the enthusiasm that has thus far been sufficient. A hint of Crazy, Gnarls not Patsy, lingers about the chorus, but not obtrusively. As the 5th track, it shows she is no 3 (or 4) trick pony. these songs are all at least part her own. with Barter offering additional input. It would have been good had my information included the backing musicians, but my suspicions are that these remain the team behind her on earlier releases. This is her second full length release, but there have been a plethora of singles and EPs in the years since she first started making her own music.

What I’m Made Of returns to the shoogly root bass style of the earlier songs, and shows she knows the value of her backing singers, who often surround, but never swamp her. They offer some neat counter melody oo-ee-oo-woos in this one, of huge appeal. I can imagine that, in a live setting, both these singers and her band might be offered some freer rein, letting the songs ride out a little looser than in the studio. Her voice is, understandably, the star, but, with the songs all running together here, it would be nice to see a little more of the sky.

MIDWEST ROADHOUSE NIGHTS

Heartbreaker dials down into desert bottleneck blues, a worthy addition to the roster of songs of this name, barreling along with an insistent rhythm that smacks of midwest roadhouse nights. A change in pace, next, for Just A Little Bit More, some moody r’n’b eked out on repeating piano chords, a good old shimmy of a song, the sort of song where the video would be in black and white, or should be. She lets her voice stretch and soar a little for this, as well as granting her guitarist the nearest to a full blown solo, one of those choppy, spiky jobs that say more than often the words can.

Sticking with piano, Always And Forever explores further this soulful side, and it wouldn’t be out of place to note hints of a younger Diana Ross in her tone and inflection. And, if that sounds a contrast, nothing prepares you for I’ll Be The One, which blows in, deliciously, on a breeze of a faltering banjo. With the mood shifting seismically to the sort of sultry country infused rock ballad that Maria McKee could slip out effortlessly, this is an astonishing song, incredulous that it has been kept this far back on the record, so different to all coming before it. She sings like a woman totally possessed by her emotions.

THE ROAD IS CALLING

Maybe to offer distance between this new persona and that behind, Out Of The Dark (Interlude) is just as it says, if in the same soaring and more sensitive style. So, any bets how the final track might spin out? Well, I guess it would have been easiest to return to type, but Hear Me Out manages something better, gelling together the first 9 songs with the mood of the 10th, becoming, arguably the best song yet. (OK, touch and go with I’ll Be The One.) Could it be that these closing tracks offer a future direction for this singer to explore? The lyrics certainly offer that hint: “the road is calling to a new direction, to a new idea“. Whether this is the case, well, we’ll have to wait and see. Either way, this is a good record that suddenly promises much better. I await with interest.

And the road? Here are the tour dates for her first headline tour.

Laura Evans, if she’s being honest:

Laura Evans online : Website / Facebook / X / Instagram / Tik-Tok

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