Kirsten Thien

Kirsten Thien’s soulful delivery of her insightful and sensual songs has earned her regular radio chart positions along with international press and radio airplay. Comparisons abound, from Keb’ Mo’ to Sheryl Crow. But Thien has carved out her own unique Contemporary Blues sound that travels the highway between Chicago in 1955, Memphis in 1969, and present-day New York City (Thien’s home in the space-time continuum).

(by Dave Rubin)

When blues diva Ida Cox sang “Wild Women Don’t Have the Blues” in 1924, she defiantly stated the obvious while providing the template for the hellions who followed, from Memphis Minnie and Sister Rosetta Tharpe to Janis Joplin. Now, fiery blues and R&B singer/guitarist Kirsten Thien blazes on the scene and stakes her claim as a contemporary wild woman while putting a decidedly modern spin on the description.

Thien was born on an Army base in Berlin, Germany, moving with her family to Maine soon after. Kirsten developed her talent from a young age with the music of Linda Ronstadt and singing in church in the “Northern Baptist” style. But her music was transformed with the discovery of Aretha Franklin, traditional New Orleans jazz and the classic women blues singers of the 1920s while attending Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. The thrill of performing in public compelled her to abandon the pursuit of a lucrative career in banking and investment for a creative one in singing and songwriting.

Settling in New York City and releasing her debut She Really Is, Kirsten embarked on extensive touring in the US and Ireland. Working solo or with her amazingly tight and talented longtime band, honed by grueling one-nighters on the road and serious woodshedding at her Harlem home, Kirsten has become a formidable performer and songwriter. On the merits of her sophomore release You’ve Got Me on Screen Door Records, Thien won the Abe Olman Award for Excellence in Songwriting in 2009 (previous winners include John Legend and Edie Carey).

Delicious (Screen Door), her latest release, finds Thien alternately ripping and seducing her way through an eleven-song set. Producer Erik Boyd (bass) masterfully blends the foundation of the core road band consisting of David Patterson (guitar), Johnny Pisano (bass) and Dylan Wissing (drums), together with NYC session cats Steve Holley (drums), Tommy Mandel (keyboard and Hammond organ), Kent Smith (trumpet), Andy Snitzer (saxophone) and Mike Freeman (vibraphone). Adding to the mix are veteran blues heavyweights Arthur Neilson (guitar), Billy Gibson (harmonica) and Hubert Sumlin (guitar). The return of Grammy-nominated recording and mixing engineer Dan Myers rounds out the team.

Delicious, track by track: