The future of blue-eyed soul lies in a 16-year-old girl from Devon, England: Joss Stone. On her impressive debut disc, she performs R&B more convincingly than any other white female singer since another Brit, Lisa Stansfield, in the late '80s-early '90s. While Stone continues work on her first CD of new material, due out next year, these 10 covers provide a tantalizing showcase of her mighty, mature-beyond-her-years voice, which blends the full-bodied richness of Stansfield with the natural blues colors of Janis Joplin. The album, which was coproduced by 70s R&B singer Betty Wright, serves up southern-style retro soul on cuts like 1967's gritty "Dirty Man." Not all of it works (like a radical revamp of the White Stripes' "Fell in Love with a Girl"), but when she asks, "Can I get a witness?" on the gospel-infused "Some Kind of Wonderful," you'll be raising your hand.
R&B
