“I’ve been all over the world/I’ve seen almost everything/I’ve sung all kinds of places/People call me the queen.” That’s the start of the middle verse from the modern blues standard “Mississippi Woman,” a gritty song that’s been handed up and down the muddy banks of the mighty river that bears its name and passed along like a secret from the hills of Holly Springs to the juke joints of Memphis and into the hands of Elizabeth Wise, a young folk singer and guitarist who possesses what they used to call an old soul. With a slide in her left hand and conviction in her voice, Wise inhabits the lines that come next, delivering them as a mystical incantation and a purposeful statement of fact. “No matter where I go y’all/I give them something real/People all over the world/Need that Mississippi feel.” “Faithfully carrying on the traditions of Elizabeth Cotton and Malvina Reynolds (with a dose of Bessie Smith, for good measure). Wise is a vital link who connects us to this fast fading golden era, and breathes new life into it. Elizabeth is a young folk and blues guitarist/singer/songwriter, a fresh face who may have been born 75 years too late.”
– Kenny White
