Victoria Day
Released 7 July 2019
If you go looking for “Victoria Day” on the Internet, you’ll most likely find the Canadian holiday:
“…celebrated on the last Monday preceding May 25, in honour of Queen Victoria’s birthday.”
Keep looking.
Eventually, you discover Victoria Day, the young singer, whose Facebook page says: “I am an 18-year-old vocalist from Middle Georgia that has had the privilege of growing up in one the most musically influential areas in the Southeast.”
And that’s where the fun begins. It’s a debut offering from this Georgia-based singer, now turned 19 – she credits such influences as Otis Redding, Etta James, Ella Fitzgerald, Stevie Nicks and Adele on this showcase of her versatile stylings.
The five tracks on this EP include a rendition of the Willie Nelson-penned “Crazy,” and Ms. Day’s channeling of the great Patsy Cline. “My Baby Just Cares For Me” recalls a young Renee Olstead. The offering is rounded out with Chris Stapleton’s “If It Hadn’t Been For Love,” covered by many but mostly remembered by Adele on the “21” album; and with the delightfully swingy “Is You Or Is You Ain’t My Baby.”
That’s four – but the fifth – “Accentuate The Positive,” energized, she says, by the backing of a live big band – is the one that jumps out of the speakers. If she’s to settle on a style, I hope it’s in that groove.
Worth a fiver to hear a young vocalist you’ll likely hear much more of (and about) in the future?
You bet.
You’ll be able to say you’ve been listening all along, and knew she’d make a name for herself.
This EP is highly recommended.
(Photo by Fred Carpenter.)