INDIA RAMEY

Baptized By The Blaze (Mule Kick)

Full of Southern Gothic textures and Tennessee twang, India Ramey has cultivated a distinctly unique sound with new album Baptized By The Blaze, which is as fiery as its title. Rising among the ranks of Americana’s hottest burgeoning artists, she’s a maverick of spaghetti western backdrops interspersed with goodtime honky-tonk saloons. But as in any good honky-tonk, the people in the world Ramey creates come from all walks of life and wear all kinds of hats, literal and metaphorical.

Fusing emotional strength with brisk musicality, Baptized By The Blaze is a collection of songs that would sound equally as good on a road trip with the top down as it would in a crowded dancehall, stomping and hollering along. At her most intimate and personal, Ramey paints a despairing portrait of pain and trauma, but turns her personal story into a universal message of freedom that result in tangible positive results.

words COLIN PALMER