Paula Rangell has been belting out her sultry brand of blues for a couple of decades and it is fitting that her latest effort catches her live show at the roadhouse of roadhouses in the New Orleans area, Ruby’s in Mandeville. Ruby’s has always been the perfect backdrop for sweaty, smoky, jumpin’ and jivin’ blues and R&B. The crowds know what to expect: solid hard drivin’ stuff—don’t give ’em none of that frou-frou fern bar Colorado crap. Let’s get smelly. Paula knows this too and usually delivers a rockin’ good show.

She starts strong with the harmonica-driven Kim Wilson tune, “Walkin’ To My Baby,” and takes you through a tight if not particularly imaginative set that includes Little Milton’s “Grits Ain’t Groceries,” Guitar Slim’s “The Things That I Used to Do,” Willie Dixon’s “Wang Dang Doodle,” and Freddy King’s “I’m Tore Down.” She turns in a soulful performance on Little Walter’s “Blues With a Feeling,” sung sexy and low with some damn good harp accompaniment by her own bad self. Guitarist Amedee Frederick adds spark and hue to an otherwise fairly flat performance.

Unfortunately, the set never catches fire. Seen at her best, Paula struts and wails, leans back into her sax and blows and maybe without the visuals it can’t sound as good. That’s always an inherent problem with live recordings, particularly with more animated, good-looking or high performance acts. Here and there, Paula and her more than competent band get the crowd responding, but the intensity meter never quite registers higher than medium-warm. To compound matters, when compared to her last CD, 30 by 90, on which she employed a phat sound featuring an all-star lineup with Jack Cole, Cranston Clements, Earl King, Jellybean Alexander, Johnny Vidacovich, organ, piano and a full horn section, this recording feels particularly thin and tired. Live at Ruby’s Roadhouse won’t cure your down-in-the-alley roadhouse blues—but catching Paula’s real live show will.