A big voice with a stage presence to match it. Award-winning songs full of love, heartache, and mischief. A command of vocal styles ranging from blues to Americana roots rock. And while those expectations will not go unfulfilled with her next album, don’t let the familiar face on the cover fool you.

It’s time to wake up to a very different Janine Wilson.

Her third album since releasing the debut The Blue Album in 2000, Wakin’ Up is Janine’s first album of all-original material,making it her most personal artistic statement to date. Building on the samepartnership that delivered the award-winning songs “Don’t Even Start” and “SoLong,” Janine teamed up with guitarist extraordinaire Max Evans (UglyAmericans) to write the songs that would eventually belong on Wakin’ Up.

Once the writing was complete, Janine approached maverick recording artistBlake Morgan, founder and president of NYC’s Engine Company Records, in the hopeof having him produce the album. Morgan proceeded to do one better, puttingtogether an incredible band of top-flight New York musicians for the recordingsessions—Jonathan Ellinghaus on drums, John Turner on bass, Melissa Giges onbacking vocals, and even providing Wurlitzer, Hammond B-3 organ, and backingvocals himself. Together with Evans playing guitar, Janine’s powerhouse vocalshave never been in front of a more solid or sophisticated sound.

The album opens with another award-winning track, “It Should Be Me,” and thoughthis song appeared on Wilson’s 2005 album Save Me From Myself, thesimilarity ends there. With new songs, a new producer, and a new band, Janinehas also found a new kind of confidence. Her voice now shares its usualoutspokenness with a more open vulnerability, amplifying the natural sultrinessof her delivery.

The opening guitar licks of “Just Kiss Her” make itapparent that this vulnerable side of Janine Wilson hasn’t softened her, a factmirrored by the directness of her lyrics (‘You keep wasting your time / WhileI’m standing here / Offering mine / And it’s all right here for you’). Theheartache and pain are palpable in her phrasing as she sings “Disappear,” arock ballad reminiscent of Sheryl Crow, contrasting with the masked denialfound in Evans’s “Not For Real” (‘I don’t take anything to heart / I’m just amillion and one false starts’).

With the pseudo-title track “Wakin’ Up in Texas,” a newdirection starts to appear, blending her bluesy roots with a pop-rocksensibility more akin to Chrissie Hynde and The Pretenders. The desperation ofher lyrics draws you in as the first half of the album ends, and as the secondhalf begins, the sweetness of the acoustic guitar on “Only One In Love”capitalizes on that closeness, commiserating the loneliness of unrequited love(‘I let you take my hand / Let myself have too much fun / Too bad I’m the onlyone in love’). The pop-rock angle continues in “Kiss You At Hello,” ashamelessly hopeful song of love at first sight.

Janine sings about the urgent need for green livingduring today’s hard times (‘When the markets crash and the headlines flash /That there’s no end in sight / You’ve gotta learn to live with less I guess /And make the wrong things right’) in the alt-country-tinged “The Grass IsAlways Greener,” followed by an equally passionate plea to not waste anopportunity for love in “Rustin’ In the Rain.” Janine shares the vocalspotlight with Evans on this one, leaving you wanting to hear more of this duo.

Recorded with Blake Morgan at the helm of Engine CompanyRecords’s studio in NYC and at Philadelphia’s Studio 4 with Grammy Award-winnerPhil “Butcher Bros.” Nicolo, Wakin’ Upproves to be yet another step in Wilson’s continuing evolution. So how shouldwe feel wakin’ up to this new Janine Wilson? With a newfound confidence behindher eyes, she smiles and answers by quoting from the last song on the album. “Hey—in the end, ‘It’s just you and me. . . like always.’”

Wakin’ Up wins Washington Area MusicAwards for Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Roots Rock Album, and AlbumDesign! .

It Should Be Me wins the Rock/AlternativeCategory of the 26th Annual Mid-Atlantic Song Contest.