Album Review: Ruby Dee and the Snakehandlers 'Little Black Heart'

Eight years ago, Ruby Dee was involved in a scooter accident that left her with a traumatic brain injury that resulted in her suffering from vertigo, memory loss, nausea, mental confusion and language challenges. “I could picture an image in my mind, but couldn’t think of the word. I couldn’t finish thoughts or sentences or conversations, let alone write songs.” Dee says.

It was a few years until she started writing songs again, and in 2011 the band’s release, Live from Austin, Texas, saw songs chart on both the AMA and Texas Third Coast Music charts, and earned the band a 54th Grammy consideration for Best Americana Album. The band also released a children’s album Rockabilly Playground, which charted at #15 on the FAR charts and #103 on the AMA Charts, and earned the band another spot on the ballot for the 56th Grammy Awards.

Now, Dee & her Snakehandlers return with their latest album, Little Black Heart. The thirteen track collection, which includes one cover and twelve originals (all penned by Dee) fuses rockabilly, country, and R&B into a swinging disc that’s a pleasure from the first song to the last. Things kick off with the sax-heavy jive of “Not For Long” and flow nicely into the upright bass-filled “Can You Spare a Match?” before landing into the rollicking tale of the homecoming queen in “All Knocked Up.” The album also includes the dark tale of love gone wrong “Put You Down,” the rapid-fire “Mean Mean Woman,” the fun kiss-off “You Underwhelm Me” and the murder ballad of a title track where Dee’s smoky vocals are on full display.

Little Black Heart showcases a woman who has undoubtedly worked hard to regain what she lost and in doing so produced an album with sharp lyrics and tight musicianship that’s fit for dancin’...and just splendid.

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