ZZ Ward - The Storm (LP)

Facts Vinyl LP pressing. 2017 release. ZZ Ward didn't have to look far for inspiration on her second full-length album, The Storm. Equally evocative of blues grit and hip-hop bounce, the Los Angeles-based vocal powerhouse and multi-instrumentalist leapt forward by taking a deeper look at some of her earliest inspirations including Howlin Wolf, Robert Johnson, and Vera Ward Hall and Big Mama Thornton. The Fedora-rocking, guitar-shredding, harmonica-wielding blues siren peppered an old back porch musical recipe with hip-hop urgency and hashtag wisdom on her 2012 mixtape Eleven Roses. Followed by her full-length debut Til The Casket Drops. "For me, this album wasn't really about experimenting," she admits. "It was more about simplicity, honing in on what I love about music and what makes me who I am as an artist. Growing up, I listened to a lot of hip-hop and blues, and I love those two genres so much. Sometimes, to evolve you don't need to go outside of yourself; you can reach further inside of yourself instead."