"Mayes combines solid musical skills and shrewd dramatic judgment with an effervescent, “down home” approach that, I expect, harks back to her childhood in the east Texas town of Livingston. She describes the place as “a hell-hole not to be believed”, but it seems to have added a dimension to her stage presence that performers raised in larger towns closer to the 20th century don't always possess. The result, in any case, is irresistible."

--Chuck, Stage Left (2007)