Chances are you've heard Gayle Ackroyd.  As a session singer she's appeared on literally hundreds of recordings and soundtracks.   She's exceptionally versatile, with a background in theatre and extensive experience as both artist and teacher, and has been living, breathing, and performing music pretty much all her adult life.

First up is "Your Kiss," an original that rides a throbbing, downright sexy beat (reminiscent of "Black Velvet," Alannah Myles' huge hit from a few years back) with Ackroyd suitably sultry and alluring throughout.  A pair of live recordings follows, with B. B. King's "Paying The Cost To Be The Boss" featuring alternately stinging and snarling lead guitar from John Jackson.   And the cover of John Hiatt's "Memphis In The Meantime" fares quite well, the band on this track executing tricky rhythms with ease.  But the recordings aren't well mixed and the boomy sound on both proves a distraction.

"Carry This Love," co-written by David Ponter, sound not at all unlike a Hiatt tune with its catchy hook and a chorus straight from the heartland; then it's back to blues for "Love Me Like A Man," another sexy grinder that Gayle invests with sizzling sass.  While it's another live cut with suspect sound, the band is uniformly excellent, with Bruce Griffin's organ solo a highlight.

The title track is an out-and-out gem, though, with Ackroyd  proving no slouch on the fretboard as she accompanies herself through the Sippie Wallace classic.   The intimate setting, also employed on closer "One Thing In Mind," showcases Ackroyd's fine voice to excellent effect.

The remaining two compositions, both Ackroyd originals, are a 50-50 proposition; the minor key "Never Felt Blue Like This Before" is carefully crafted and appropriately moody, but the presumably autobiographical "Hard Luck Town" is rather generic, and it's roots-rocky chorus is a little too shrill for long-term likeability.

Uneven recording holds this one back, but Ackroyd proves an excellent singer who handles diverse material well.  She's more than capable of holding her own in a larger setting, but the two solo cuts provide this outing's most enjoyable moments, if only because production is less a factor.  Here's hoping production is better on her next recording - a wonderful voice like hers deserves to be heard clearly, not buried under murky sound.