Bob Dylan once said of Karen Dalton, “[she] had a voice like Billie Holiday’s and played the guitar like Jimmy Reed.” Fifteen years after Dalton’s death, this same legacy seems to have been reborn in Minneapolis’s own Lucy Michelle (just replace the word “guitar” with ukulele). Michelle, with her talented backing band The Velvet Lapelles, picks up Dalton’s bluesy style of folk music and takes it backpacking through Europe, introducing it to gypsies and burlesque performers along the way. The result is a vigorous new take on American roots music.

Michelle and her Lapelles recently independently released their first studio album, Orange Peels and Rattlesnake Eggs. The record showcases Michelle’s unusually pitched voice as well as the Velvet Lapelles strong musical talent. Eggs commences with “Traffic,” a fantastic blend of ukulele, accordion, and violin layered on top of sultry cello strings. Michelle’s vocals compliment the band as well, at times taking on a lyrical bounce that is more akin to a musical instrument than the human voice. “Osbick Bird” brings some moody piano into the mix, and a forceful presence by accordionist Ashley Boman that brings to mind Belle Époque era French music. The Roma influence is clearest in “When the World Turned off its Light,” a frenzied boot stomper that throws some clarinet and a few screams in for good measure. “36th” rounds the album out with a bit of sweetness, a lovesick tune with some poppy piano and great cello work by Eamonn McClain.

Overall, this album is almost too much to have hoped for from a band that has not even been together for a full year. Any worries I had wondering how the group’s live performances would translate to studio tape have been laid to rest. Orange Peels and Rattlesnake Eggs will surely be earmarked as one of the best local releases this year.

(MySpace)

Also: (Lucy Michelle and the Velvet Lapelles @ Big V’s)