CATIE CURTIS
Hello, Stranger
Compass 7-4517-2
Catie Curtis is one of those performers we want to adore. She’s effervescent, personable, and talented. On stage she exudes energy and charm, and few walk away unfulfilled. Alas, a reviewer’s job is to call it like it is, not how we’d like it to be; Hello, Stranger is a sub par effort. There are too many musical genres into which merely Curtis dips her toes rather than immersing herself—more of a producer’s album than one that flatters her.
Curtis has been making records in Nashville for a few years now. There is certainly no faulting the production values of her new album, not when talent such as Alison Brown, Darrell Scott, Kenny Malone, and Mary Gauthier come along for the ride. Problems occur, however, as Curtis drifts further from her folk roots. The title track is an A. P. Carter song and much of the record has a country bluegrass tinge. We are asked to believe that Curtis is a country gal, not a Boston-based artist who cut her teeth on urban folk.alt music. And we’re also supposed to accept the premise that all covers are appropriate and cool. But Curtis simply doesn’t have to chops or the ‘tude to cover an angst-laden Richard Thompson song like “Walking on a Wire.” And, if you’re going to dust off something as familiar as “Passing Through” you need to be robust about it, not merely competent.
The tepidness of Curtis’s bluegrass/country/rock personae become glaringly obvious when contrasted to her own compositions. Instead of the quavering tones that we hear on covers, she is smooth, confident, and emotive. And, yes, she skirts the borders of sentimentality on songs such as “Dad’s Yard,” her homage to her father’s Yankee parsimony and warm heart. But that’s the point. Her best repertoire is a mix of the sweet and slightly bitter, not those that are shopworn or bitter. Curtis is at her best as a folk and folk rock artist, not as an Appalachian avatar. I never thought I’d write these lines about Catie Curtis, but the new album feels contrived.--LV
Hello, Stranger
Compass 7-4517-2
Catie Curtis is one of those performers we want to adore. She’s effervescent, personable, and talented. On stage she exudes energy and charm, and few walk away unfulfilled. Alas, a reviewer’s job is to call it like it is, not how we’d like it to be; Hello, Stranger is a sub par effort. There are too many musical genres into which merely Curtis dips her toes rather than immersing herself—more of a producer’s album than one that flatters her.
Curtis has been making records in Nashville for a few years now. There is certainly no faulting the production values of her new album, not when talent such as Alison Brown, Darrell Scott, Kenny Malone, and Mary Gauthier come along for the ride. Problems occur, however, as Curtis drifts further from her folk roots. The title track is an A. P. Carter song and much of the record has a country bluegrass tinge. We are asked to believe that Curtis is a country gal, not a Boston-based artist who cut her teeth on urban folk.alt music. And we’re also supposed to accept the premise that all covers are appropriate and cool. But Curtis simply doesn’t have to chops or the ‘tude to cover an angst-laden Richard Thompson song like “Walking on a Wire.” And, if you’re going to dust off something as familiar as “Passing Through” you need to be robust about it, not merely competent.
The tepidness of Curtis’s bluegrass/country/rock personae become glaringly obvious when contrasted to her own compositions. Instead of the quavering tones that we hear on covers, she is smooth, confident, and emotive. And, yes, she skirts the borders of sentimentality on songs such as “Dad’s Yard,” her homage to her father’s Yankee parsimony and warm heart. But that’s the point. Her best repertoire is a mix of the sweet and slightly bitter, not those that are shopworn or bitter. Curtis is at her best as a folk and folk rock artist, not as an Appalachian avatar. I never thought I’d write these lines about Catie Curtis, but the new album feels contrived.--LV
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