Elizabeth McQueen
The Laziest Girl in Town (Freedom)
Reviewed by Jim Caligiuri, Fri., Nov. 26, 2010
Elizabeth McQueen
The Laziest Girl in Town (Freedom)Forget trying to pigeonhole Elizabeth McQueen. Her first disc, 2003's The Fresh Up Club, was a little bit country and a whole lot of rock & roll. She followed with Happy Doing What We're Doing, a tribute to 1970s British pub rock. The Laziest Girl in Town is a completely unexpected turn to the world of Ella Fitzgerald and Nina Simone. More surprisingly, McQueen composed seven of the tunes herself – not her strong suit in the past – and with the help of some of her Asleep at the Wheel bandmates and local guitar wiz Andrew Nofziger, she swings like crazy. Covering Cole Porter on the title track, McQueen purrs in a way you've never heard her. She flirts frisky throughout, nearly scatting "Mind of Men" and hints at rockabilly on "Lonely Madman." Hardly the Laziest, McQueen's one of the most talented girls in Austin.