Ally Venable - Money & Power (2025)

Rules are there to be broken. Expectations are there to be defied. Glass ceilings are there to be shattered. Having spent the past decade carving out her own unique space in the male-dominated world of blues-rock, Ally Venable's combative sixth album, Money & Power, demands more of both - for herself, for women around the world, and for anyone else who thought they weren't worthy of a seat at the table.

"Money & Power is such a strong statement, especially for women," says the award-winning Texas gunslinger of her Nashville-recorded new release, on which Ally's crack-squad band is joined by A-list guests Shemekia Copeland and Christone 'Kingfish' Ingram. "All the songs on this album showcase the theme of what it truly means to be a force to be reckoned with. I want this record to wake people up."

Money and power make the world go round. But in the right hands, music can be every bit as potent. Right now, on the heels of 2023’s acclaimed Real Gone – an album that hit #1 on the Billboard Blues Charts and was still in contention a year later – Ally is ratedamongst the best young singer-songwriters in American roots, saluted by Total Guitar Magazine in its poll of Top 100 Blues Guitarists.

“With her heels, sequins and Les Paul growling on a leash, she’s one of Ruf’s most head-turning young artists,” wrote Classic Rock, “and while the instrumental prowess can be taken as read, Real Gone marks a growing maturity in the Texan’s songcraft.”

Indeed, at first glance, it’s hard to fathom how a 25-year-old can sing and play with such battle-scarred authority, let alone have five albums in her rear-view mirror. But there’s a simple explanation: Ally raced from childhood church choirs to revved-up first guitars, channelling the teenage influence of local heroes Stevie Ray Vaughan and Miranda Lambert, and booking out bar gigs before she could order a beer. She’s never looked back. In a time before TikTok, Ally made waves the old-fashioned way, getting out there on the boards and banging the doors of local radio stations (her persistence paid off with a hardcore local fanbase, regular spins on the airwaves and a rack of East Texas Music Awards). She sharpened her craft on breakout albums No Glass Shoes (2016) and Puppet Show (2018), before swerving into the fast lane with 2019’s #2 Billboard Blues-charting Texas Honey, showcased on Ruf’s legendary three-headed Blues Caravan tour.

Even when Covid bit, this hard-gigging bandleader was one of the first back out of the blocks, deservedly winning the Road Warrior trophy at the Independent Blues Music Awards as she fuelled her setlists with material from 2021’s Heart Of Fire. “The rocking stuff here could bloody noses,” wrote Henry Yates (The Guardian, NME, Classic Rock, Guitarist), “but it packs an even harder emotional gut-punch.”

In February 2024, with the dust still settling from Real Gone, Money & Power sessions saw Ally and producer/drummer Tom Hambridge push through the doors ofNashville’s famous Soundstage Studios. Led by the guitarist’s burnt-honey vocal and soulful fretwork, the studio band was a wishlist of first-call musicians, including Isaac Pulido (drums), EJ Bedford (bass/keys), Kenny Greenberg (guitars), Rob Coreton (bass), Luke Mosely (keys), Tim Lauer (keys), Jorion Dawson (saxophone) and Jason Grant (trumpet), all topped off by the backing vocals of Rachel & Sarah Hambridge. “My favourite part of making this album,” reflects Ally, “was having the opportunity to work with all the talented musicians that played on it.”

The personnel is strictly A-list, but as always, Ally’s new songs are the real stars.“Making this album felt very therapeutic, as well as a milestone in my musical journey,” she says of the 11 originals (plus a hard-driving cover of Janet Jackson’s Black Cat). “I hope these songs allow people to see into my life in a vulnerable way and hold a strong perspective that empowers women and breaks the glass ceiling.”

That attitude is palpable on opener Brown Liquor, Ally’s battlecry decorated by a stinging guest guitar solo from the Mississippi hotshot Christone ‘Kingfish’ Ingram. Maybe Someday is a blissful moment of redemptive soul, carried along by horns and barbed lyricsaimed at an old flame (‘You want to make up for the times you did me wrong/You think a woman’s love can just be turned back on’).

Next up is the white-hot title track, with Ally’s guitar set to scorch and a seethingmessage. “Money & Power shouts to the masses,” she explains, “that women are not to be doubted in their ability to thrive in the world.” The album’s mid-section is just as vital, flowing from the stormy alt-rock of Do You Cry (“It speaks on a lost love that once was,” she says) to the up-for-a-fight roadhouse rocker Heal Me, with its squalls of blues harp and slide guitar. Stopper Back Popper shifts gears again, Ally hollering at the barman over glassy funk-soul chording. Legends has a chorus that takes one listen to get under your skin, the bandleader reminding us that nothing in life worth having ever came easy (‘The bigger the dream/the bigger the fight’). Pitched somewhere between wistful and hopeful, Keep Me In Mind is another gem, pairing the radio-ready hookiness of prime-time Sheryl Crow with Ally’s unmistakable thumbprint.

Vital right to the end, Money & Power plays out with Stepping Stone’s earthy roar of empowerment, the shuddering, spooky, tremolo-soaked groove of Feel That Sting, and the dust blown rocker Unbreakable, where Ally goes toe-to-toe with New York powerhouse Shemekia Copeland. “That song spreads a message of women that have been oppressed,” she says, “to rise to the occasion and break above it all.”

Released April 2025 on Ruf Records, Money & Power is a modern roots record that plays by its own rules and marches to the beat of its own drum. The same could be said for Ally herself. “I’m thrilled to release this album,” she says. “For me, it’s a sonic embodiment of a woman’s unstoppable ambition, and really showcases my musicality on all fronts. I’m looking forward to seeing where this one will take me.”

Ally Venable, lead vocals, guitars, background vocals
Tom Hambridge, drums, percussion, background vocals
Isaac Pulido, drums, background vocals
EJ Bedford, bass, keyboards, background vocals
Kenny Greenberg, guitars
Rob Coreton, bass
Luke Mosely, keyboards
Tim Lauer, keyboards
Rachel & Sarah Hambridge, background vocals
Jason Grant, trumpet
Jorion Dawson, saxophone
Christone "Kingfish" Ingram, guitar on 'Brown Liquor'
Shemekia Copeland, vocals on 'Unbreakable'

TRACKLIST

1. Ally Venable - Brown Liquor
2. Ally Venable - Maybe Some Day
3. Ally Venable - Money & Power
4. Ally Venable - Do You Cry
5. Ally Venable - Heal Me
6. Ally Venable - Stopper Back Papa
7. Ally Venable - Legends
8. Ally Venable - Keep Me In Mind
9. Ally Venable - Unbreakable
10. Ally Venable - Stepping Stone
11. Ally Venable - Feel That Sting
12. Ally Venable - Black Cat