Crystal Shawanda

Sing Pretty Blues

New Sun Records

Crystal Shawanda is an Indigenous Canadian artist born in the Wiikwemkoong First Nation, an unceded territory on Manitoulin Island in northern Ontario. She moved to Nashville and signed with RCA Records in 2007. Her debut album, Dawn of a New Day, reached the Top 20 on the Billboard Country Albums chart, and she toured with Brad Paisley and Dierks Bentley. After leaving RCA, Shawanda released the independently produced Just Like You, which earned her Canada’s prestigious Juno Award. Her career reached another milestone when she performed at President Barack Obama’s 2013 inauguration.

Shawanda admits, “The whole time I was singing Patsy Cline on stage, I was singing Etta James at home. I veered to the blues because that’s the music I love to sing.” Sing Pretty Blues marks her eighth blues album. Her widely acclaimed Voodoo Woman elevated her standing in the genre and sparked comparisons to one of her major influences, Koko Taylor. Other key influences include Mavis Staples and Etta James.

Sing Pretty Blues is produced by Shawanda’s husband, Dewayne Strobel, with Shawanda serving as executive producer. Guitarists include Strobel, Ping Rose, and Austin Strobel; bassists include Strobel, Jonathan Nixon, and Dave Roe; drummers include Nioshi Jackson and Louis Winfield, with Jackson also contributing percussion. Peter Keys handles keyboards, Chris West plays horns, harmonica duties are shared by Stephen Hanner and Steve Marriner, and backing vocals are provided by Sarina Joi Crowe, Ping Rose, Angela Hurt, and Zhaawande Strobel. The album was engineered, mixed, and arranged by Dewayne Strobel and mastered by Benny Quinn.

The album opens with “Preachin’ Blues,” featuring Stephen Hanner on harmonica, as Shawanda sings, “Gonna get me some religion, gonna join the Baptist church… I’m gonna preach these blues before I settle down.” The funky “Stop Funkin’ Me Around” follows, with Shawanda warning, “If you don’t want me, stop funkin’ me around.”

The slow-burning ballad “Would You Know Love” asks a haunting question as Shawanda chants, “You have love in the palm of your hand, would you know love how it feels?” supported by Chris West’s horn work. On “I Gave Up Everything for You, ’Cept the Blues,” again featuring Hanner’s harmonica, Shawanda groans, “I gave up everything I could for you… but I still got this monkey on my back.”

The title track, “Sing Pretty Blues,” finds Shawanda defiantly declaring, “I don’t sing pretty, but I sing pretty blues to you.” “Don’t Let Me Be Lonely” follows with a raw plea of heartbreak and longing, while “If That’s All It Takes” captures the price of staying close to someone you love.

“Waitin’ for My Lover to Call” is steeped in loneliness as Shawanda weeps, “Sittin’ by the phone, waitin’ for my lover to call.” On “Changes (For Snowflake),” she reflects on loss and transformation, singing, “I’m going through changes in my life.” “Honey Bee” brings a sultry edge, while “Too Far to Turn Around” rides a road-weary groove of resignation and resolve.

The album closes with the deeply confessional “Dirty (For JC),” as Shawanda croons, “I quit drinkin’… I stopped getting high… but when I’m clean, I still feel dirty,” delivering one of the most emotionally powerful performances of the record.

Shawanda explains, “I love all styles of music, but there was always something drawing me to the blues. I was one of those kids who read the liner notes—I wanted to know everything, from the songwriters to the engineers and the originators.”

On Sing Pretty Blues, Crystal Shawanda doesn’t just honor the blues—she becomes one of its modern originators, bringing feel, swagger, and absolute authenticity to every track.

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