Who will carry the blues torch beyond the millennium into the 21st century? When the focus turns to the ladies, one name high on the list is Becky Barksdale, a guitar playing wailer from Port Arthur, Texas who blends the flavors of electric blues and rock to create an intense, brooding, powerfully sensual style.

Introduced to blues not long after her grandfather gave her a guitar at age 12, she learned to play by hanging around with local musicians. By 16, she was on the stage as a professional. Years of gigs led eventually to a stint with a latter-day line-up of Canned Heat. Word of her scorching guitar work traveled fast, soon catching the ear of Michael Jackson. Becky spanned the globe as Jackson's lead guitarist for the 1993 Dangerous World Tour, bringing authentic rock punch to the king of pop's live show. Not long after, she wowed the audience at a Blues Heaven Foundation appearance at the House Of Blues Music Company. She became the first artist signed to the label's new roster.

On stage, Becky rocks the blues with convincing authority, combining fluid fiery guitar licks with supple, edgy vocals. The rough textures of her voice and the raw passion of her singing have invited comparisons to Port Arthur hometown heroine Janis Joplin, a correlation both flattering and disturbing to a woman who goes her own way.

"Satisfy Me", from 1996's House Of Blues "Hot Biscuits Sampler", works the same thematic territory as Bessie Smith's "Do Your Duty", with decidedly different results. With the release of 1999's "Real Live", she documents the reason for all of the buzz surrounding her. Ten previously unreleased original tracks and a dramatic cover of the Willie Dixon classic, "I Just Wanna Make Love To You", place her as one of blues' most dynamic performers.

Yearning, demanding, playing and singing with bold carnal abandon, Becky Barksdale serves notice that the blues are ever-changing.