Pam Parker Imagine (Yardbird Records)

If you can dream, then the dream is yours. That's what Pam Parker, a Washington, D.C.-area musician and vocalist, lives for, and if you believe in Nina Simone, Big Mama Thornton, and James Taylor, you can share the dream too. Parker has a big voice (her "Hound Dog" is made for rockin' up a house party, but she also knows how to whisper a good lullaby. Some of the best songs are the quiet and thoughtful ones, though, and I'll settle for her gentle and tender arrangements of "What a Wonderful World," "Bridge Over Troubled Water," and "Imagine" as I sip a good glass of wine next to a crackling fire. Her ace backup band (the Imagine Band) of Steve Jones (piano), Scott Giambusso (bass), Jobari Parker-Namdar (vocals), Richard Miller (guitar), Herbert Scott (saxophone), and Francis Thompson (drums) gives her plenty of room to take protest songs like Dylan's "Masters of War" and Steve Jones' "We Speak Louder Than Machines" into the streets with flags and banners unfurling. Parker and band also work up some New Orleans magic when they funk up Sonny Landreth's "Congo Square" so you fell like dancing on the tables 'cos the music just gets your feet movin' in all directions at once.
- TJ McGrath