Although she"s best known today as the queen of Boston"s blues scene, Toni Lynn Washington got her start on the Southern-soul circuit in the 1960s. Like blues legend Charles Brown, she dropped out of music for a couple of decades, only to return stronger than ever in the early "90s. Washington is a gifted and assured interpretive singer, and on Good Things, her third album for the Tone-Cool label, she tackles the polished blues of Joe Williams, the smooth soul of Johnny Adams, and the slow-burn ballads of Percy Mayfield. Backed by a six-piece band that includes horns, piano, guitar, bass, and drums, Washington specializes in the sort of sophisticated, soulful music that once flourished in New Orleans and Los Angeles, keeping alive a tradition slowly slipping into the twilight with each passing year. --Keith Moerer