Mama Kin

Beat and Holler

Independent *** 1/2

First single Tore My Heart Out, an enchanting piano ballad reminiscent of Aimee Mann, dashed all expectation that this would be a vanity project for Mama Kin, aka Danielle Caruana, aka Ms John Butler. Besides being totally unfair, all comparisons to her husband are totally irrelevant on a highly impressive, soulful outing channelling the Maltese-Australian singer and pianist's Latin passion and feminine power.

The high- spirited It's For Me explains why Caruana, sick of being "the one who always sits firmly in the corner", decided to launch a pop career. Equally feisty are songs such as On My Way and I'm Gonna Do It - both recall Fiona Apple - while her sultry vocals seem influenced by Billie Holiday and Nina Simone.

The closest thing to a Trio tune here is the title track, where Mama Kin and friends beat, holler and clap along on an udu, a Nigerian jug instrument, and a cajon box drum. Ably abetted by her brother Michael (also a pianist) and producer Tony Buchan, Caruana runs the full gamut of emotions, incorporates Latin rhythms (a rhumba here, a tango there) and proves that nobody puts Mama in the corner.

• Robert Randolph and the Family Band *

• We Walk This Road Warner Review: Michael Dwyer *** *

The out-takes from this album would require a whole shelf in the US Library of Congress. Pedal steel ace Robert Randolph was after consolidation of his gospel and rock roots, as filtered through producer T Bone Burnett's encyclopaedic appreciation of American music history (he put together O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss). Sessions spanned years but the result is a distillation, not a saga. Powerful threads of spiritual fervour and political solidarity are tied together with gospel harmonies and Randolph's long, sinewy, Stevie Ray Vaughan-influenced blues licks. Snatches of old field hollers, hymns and Blind Willie Johnson are woven into a tapestry of original songs of devotion and defiance and surprising re-mouldings of Dylan, Lennon, Prince and others.