PORT TOWNSEND — In celebration of her new album, “Stronger for It,” blues and soul singer Janiva Magness is coming back this Sunday to The Upstage, a club she readily raves about.
“It’s really intimate . . . the audience is so into what we’re doing. I love that place to pieces,” said Magness, who was here last year in the wake of her 2010 release “Devil Is an Angel Too.”
Playing the smaller venues is “a love experience,” added the singer, who’s now riding a cresting wave of rave reviews for her latest album.
“Stronger for It” is about love: lost and rediscovered, for others and for oneself.
And this time around, Magness has added her own songs to the record: “Whistlin’ in the Dark,” “There It Is” and “I Won’t Cry” share the lineup with covers of Shelby Lynne and Tom Waits.
Born from experience
There is no particular track titled “Stronger for It,” though. That phrase refers to Magness’ experience of 2011, a year that seared her with loss and lifted her up with music.
“I had the best career year, in terms of touring,” she recalled. Audience response was “magnificent” at her shows.
But there was far too much tragedy: Magness buried eight people who were very close to her. Also in 2011, her husband left their 17-year marriage.
“And,” Magness said, “I made a record. Everything comes out in my work.”
“Stronger for It” starts with “There It Is,” a song about defiance after a breakup; then it rolls through “I Won’t Cry,” “Make It Rain,” “Whistlin’ in the Dark,” “I’m Alive,” “Thought I Knew You,” “Things Left Undone” and finally “Whoop and Holler.”
Magness has been studying the blues since she was a teenager. She first heard this music after slipping into a club to see Otis Rush; hooked, she kept slaking her thirst at Albert Collins and Johnny Copeland concerts and with Aretha Franklin, James Brown and Etta James records.
Earlier years
Originally from Detroit, Magness moved around a lot, among foster homes, after losing both her parents to suicide. She was just 16 when they died; at 17 she had her own baby daughter.
Then, somewhere along the line, Magness started to believe that she didn’t have a long life ahead of her. People around her died young; she expected the same fate for herself.
So she decided to audition for a singing gig.
“I didn’t like the idea of my life going by and never trying,” she said.
Magness got every single job she auditioned for, whether she wanted it or not. She went to some tryouts just for the practice and wound up getting a lot of that.
Still, she didn’t think she could make a sustainable living as a performer, so she trained to be a recording engineer, to at least be near the making of music.
She landed an internship at a recording studio in St. Paul, Minn., and next thing she knew, one of the studio’s artists asked her to sing backup vocals on a record.
With her sultry sound and beauty to match, Magness has been winning accolades ever since.
In 2009, she was the second woman in history, after Koko Taylor, to be named B.B. King Entertainer of the Year at the Blues Music Awards in Memphis, Tenn.
These days, Magness is relishing her life on the road.
“What keeps me inspired is my band. This is the best band I’ve ever had in my life,” she said.
The players are organist Jim Alfredson, guitarist Zach Zunis, bass man Gary Davenport and drummer Matt Tecu.
“The audiences seem to be right there with us, embracing the material,” Magness added.
“Stronger for It” is doing well on the roots and blues and Americana charts, like her previous albums on Alligator Records — and this one is even being played on country stations, “which is really surprising,” she said.
Besides being a blues ambassador, Magness is a spokeswoman for the Casey Family Programs National Foster Care Month Campaign, and an Ambassador for Foster Care Alumni of America.
“It is a huge honor,” she said, adding that she is determined to carry a message of hope for children and teenagers in the foster care system — as well as to alumni like herself.
Information about this work is at www.JanivaMagness.com.
Magness and her band will step up at 8 p.m. Sunday; tickets are $25 at The Upstage, 923 Washington St., in downtown Port Townsend.
For reservations and details, phone 360-385-2216 or visit UpstageRestaurant.com.
