Hit Pick

Mary Flower wasn't among the artists featured in Martin Scorsese's recent cinematic homage to the blues, but several of her heroes were. Flower, a disciple of blues architects including Blind Lemon Jefferson and Robert Johnson, has honed her own Piedmont-style perfection over the past decade. A former folkie who took a twenty-year hiatus from touring to raise two kids, Flower branched out of Denver and into the national and international festival circuit in the early '90s. Since then, she's been recognized as one of the bolder forces in contemporary blues -- a songwriter with a penchant for traditionalism, a frank and unaffected vocalist and a smokin' guitarist. Flower placed third in the 2003 National Fingerpicking Championship in Winfield, Kansas, and she's currently celebrating the release of her fifth full-length recording, Ragtime Gal, which was recorded with the help of a number of Colorado's most esteemed folk and blues players. Hot Rize's Nick Forster, Steve Amadee and John Magnie of the Subdudes, Mollie O'Brien and Chris Daniels help Flower fill out a lively batch of original tunes and covers, including Duke Ellington's "Mood Indigo." Get in the mood for blues on Saturday, December 13, at the D-Note in Olde Town Arvada.