Anne McCue

McGonigel’s Mucky Duck presents Anne McCue.

Bluesy songstress and multi-instrumentalist Anne McCue has released her 6th studio album – Blue Sky Thinkin’ .

McCue recorded and produced the album alongside Dusty Wakeman (Lucinda Williams, Dwight Yoakam) in Los Angeles and Nashville. The album has been mastered by Ray Kennedy in Nashville.

The album reunites the band from her critically acclaimed ‘Roll’ album and allows Anne to explore some of her favourite influences, including Billy Holiday, Charlie Christian, Howlin’ Wolf, Memphis Minnie, Astor Piazzola, Peggy Lee, Irving Berlin, Django Reinhardt, Hoagy Carmichael, Bessie Smith…

“I’ve been a fan of guitarist/singer/songwriter Annie McCue for many years so I’m very honored and happy about singing with her on a damn fine song for her upcoming album. She wrote the song with John Hadley and the brilliant David Olney. You can’t go wrong with such talent.” -Dave Alvin

“I had done some gigs with Annie McCue out in California and thought that besides her phenomenal playing and great songs she had a unique presence. She has an angelic quality to her but also a Charlie Chaplin-esque vibe. Fearless and tender and alluring.” -David Olney

Alternative Country icon Lucinda Williams has said of McCue: “Initially, her stunning voice hooked me in. Then I got inside the songs. The first chance I got, I went to see her perform . . . I was floored!”

Born in Sydney and raised just southwest in Campbelltown, McCue has toured the world playing her music in Concert Halls, pubs and festivals, living for a year in Vietnam. She has most recently been based in East Nashville, a thriving songwriting community on the Cumberland River’s left bank.

Her love of music forged in Sydney, Melbourne and Ho Chi Minh City, McCue landed in America and performed on the Lilith Fair tour. After setting up shop in Los Angeles, she became a vital part of the city’s roots music scene and has since recorded 5 acclaimed studio albums and a DVD ‘Live In Nashville.’

Her music is included in Time Life’s ‘4 Decades Of Folk Rock’ alongside Bob Dylan, The Byrds, etc. and in Starbucks Artist Choice alongside Leonard Cohen, John Coltraine etc.

McCue recently produced Emma Swift’s debut album in Nashville. The record has since been nominated for an ARIA Award in Australia. Other artists she has produced include Audrey Auld and Tracey Bunn. She is currently working with Reckless Johnny Wales at Flying Machine Studio.

Expect great guitar work, compelling songs, and an eclectic set list.

“McCue and co-producer Dusty Wakeman (Lucinda Williams, Dwight Yoakam) give the album a welcome contemporary polish. That sheen shines even brighter thanks to McCue’s virtuosity on guitar, whether she’s slow-strumming a rhythm on “Things You Left Out in the Rain,” finger-plucking a nylon-string solo on “Dig Two Graves” or riding a subtle slide on “Long Tall Story” — her pickin’ chops have garnered accolades from the likes of Lucinda Williams…” NASHVILLE SCENE

“McCue’s [guitar] virtuosity is no surprise, but the ease with which she’s absorbed and restated the beating heart of swing music is impressive and thrilling.” NO DEPRESSION

“… with references to Django Reinhardt, Billie Holiday and Gershwin, among others, this gorgeous album showcases McCue’s songwriting, torch-like vocals and brilliant, mostly-acoustic guitar mastery.” ELMORE MAGAZINE

“A true depiction of McCue’s Southern charm, the album shines with a genuine bluesy, folk rock sound… Perceivably effortless, McCue continued to impress with a mastering of both guitar and vocals and at one point retrieved a sliding guitar for the song “Hangman.”” AUSTIN FUSION MAGAZINE

“McCue uses swing elements (last prominent in pop music circa the late ‘90s) and an elegiac New Orleans sensibility to create a cyclonic atmosphere, a controlled chaos of swirling guitar work and tempered horns resulting in an inferno of sound… Knock on wood, but Anne McCue’s time has arrived on what is her most realized album to date.” THE SECOND DISC

“An Australian transplant currently calling Nashville home, Anne McCue took a musical detour on sixth album Blue Sky Thinkin’, a candidate for her strongest work ever. Known for her guitar prowess, she expands into jazz and swing in the style of Django Reinhardt and Charlie Christian, adding horns and keyboards for color.” AUSTIN

“Both the mood and the music lend themselves to imagery involving booze, bravado and bordellos, but McCue’s perky attitude and the colorful paintings that adorn the album’s cover suggest more of a mischievous intent.” BLURT MAGAZINE

“The sprightly album brims with toe-tap-inducing feel-good patina.” NASHVILLE SCENE

“… her own batch of standards on an album that sounds so authentic, you’ll be checking the credits to see which Tin Pan Alley tunesmith wrote them.” LOS ANGELES MAGAZINE

“I decided to make this album all pre-rock ‘n’ roll,” McCue tells the Scene. “I love that era where jazz and blues started merging together and rock came out of it like a prodigal child.” NASHVILLE SCENE

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/annemccue