An Evening at Trasimeno Lake: Ana Popovic Band

Clad in a sequined top and leather pants, Serbian-born blues guitarist Ana Popovic performs within the walls of a medieval castle at Perugia's 2009 Trasimeno Blues Festival for this live release, which incorporates interview segments in which she talks about her career. For the music segments, bassist Ronald Jonker, drummer Andrew “Blaze” Thomas, keyboard player Michele Papadia, and backup singer Sandra LaVille round out the lineup. The band performs an energetic 14-track set that features a bounty of bottleneck-slide guitar solos, with a few minor deviations from the formula: two horn players (Cristiano Arcelli and Riccardo Giulietti) and a percussionist (Stéphane Avellaneda) join the group for some numbers, while Popovic trades her electric guitar for an acoustic on “Doubt Everyone But Me” and “Blind for Love,” in which she adds jazz spice to her blues recipe. Overall, Popovic isn't a bad singer or player, but there's little originality here; furthermore, the songs preceding the interview clips fade out at the end, which is a little jarring. Presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 and PCM stereo, DVD extras include two bonus acoustic tracks and an interview with Popovic. Optional. (K. Fennessy)