If success was measured by how much one appears to enjoy what they’re doing, then Austin, Texas-based singer and songwriter Elizabeth McQueen must hit a home run every time she takes the stage. There she was, just a couple of months ago at one of several Austin CD release parties promoting the debut recording with the Firebrands titled The Fresh Up Club. The locale was the Cactus Café, one of the best sounding rooms in Austin situated on the University of Texas campus.

McQueen was well equipped to take advantage of what the room had to offer in acoustics that evening employing her complete arsenal, a.k.a, the Firebrands, backing her to the hilt. To not sense the wonderful time she was having singing the dickens out of a mix of covers and originals songs, you’d have to be stone cold dead. With an onstage demeanor that was hard not to get caught up in, a versatile voice completely at home, be it a country-flavored number, rocker or ballad, and of course, that killer band, McQueen was to these ears and eyes the toast of the town as she trotted out just about just about the entirety of her mighty fine 13-song effort The Fresh Up Club.

Hearing her and the Firebrands – Linsday Greene on bass, Brian Smith on drums, and the twin-pronged guitar attack of Austin aces Chris Miller and Andrew Nafziger tear it up on the likes of Chuck Berry’s “Thirty Days,” George Jones “What am I Worth,” Steve Doer of Leroi Brothers fame’s “I Don’t Wanna Stop,” and NRBQ’ “It Comes to Me Naturally” (which is part of the repetoire, but which unfortunately does not make The Fresh Up Club cut) had me clearly convinced of this gal's taste in tunes and the talent to put her stamp on each and every one. Twangers like “Heaven Sent,” the rockabilly drive of “Freight Train,” and the gorgeous shuffle of “Lyin’” which is from the pen of her gal pal Wendy Mitchell, were just icing on the cake in comparison to the rockers. But it wasn’t all fire and brimstone that evening. McQueen proved herself equally adept on the slow ones letting her emotions run loose on a batch of fine originals such as “Love Minus One,” “I Don’t Know Why” with it’s thick bluesy hue, and “I Think I’ll Stay in Tonight.” Whereas no match for the live experience (and what records really are), The Fresh Up Club is a plenty satisfying substitute. In a town where bands are a dime a dozen, Elizabeth McQueen and the Firebrands come up all information on The Fresh Up Club.

Dan Ferguson
Rhode Island Central
Time Out
September 4-5 2003