Torchbearers for the classic "uppity blues women" like Bessie Smith, Sippie Wallace, and Victoria Spivey, the trio known as Saffire is one of the most witty, appealing, and just plain satisfying acoustic blues groups on the scene. Sadly, their return to the Freight is also their swan song on our stage, since they are retiring as a trio this year with the release of the CD, Havin' the Last Word (Alligator Records).

Over the course of nine recordings and 25 years of performing, Saffire have garnered quite a following with what the New York Times labeled "Post feminist traditional blues, sung and played with gorgeous abandon." In the trio, Gaye Adegbalola plays incisive guitar and harmonica, multi-instrumentalist Andra Faye adds bass, guitar, mandolin, and fiddle, and Ann Rabson provides boogie piano and old school guitar finger picking—and all three are powerhouse vocalists, of course. Combining the wit and irony of the original blues divas with an updated twist, the Virginia-based trio tears into a repertoire of originals and reinterpretations of saucy gems from the 1920s and '30s with passion, dedication, and originality.