Amy Farris - Anyway (CD)

Mixed bag of pop & Americana with fine high points

By redtunictroll  May 5, 2004

Pros: -

Cons: -

Farris is a singer-songwriter-fiddler from Austin who's augmented her classical training with an impressive crash-course in Americana. After wood-shedding on tour with Alejandro Escovedo, she had the opportunity to tour and record with Austin lum...inaries like Kelly Willis & Bruce Robison and The Derailers. She's graduated with this debut CD, produced by legendary guitarist-singer-songwrit
er Dave Alvin.Farris' voice has a good measure of the "little girl" sound of Julie Miller and Victoria Williams, which can sound twee at times. Alvin does a good job of hiding this, especially on the stellar double-tracked vocal of the title song (augmented by a superb baritone guitar solo) and the twangy "Pretty Dresses." The former brings to mind 60s girlgroup sounds like The Shangri-Las or Shelley Fabares, the latter adds Farris' fiddle and Rick Shea's pedal steel to a song that's equal parts Wanda Jackson and Connie Francis.The album's eclectic mix includes Drifters-styled bass, maracas and violin on "Let Go" and jazzy crooning on "Undecided" and "No Exit." Farris' voice is a bit girly to fully carry the latter two, but her fiddle solo on "No Exit" is swings in a wonderfully laconic way. Covers include Bruce Robison's "Drivin' All Night Long," Scott Walker's moody "Big Louise," and X's "Poor Girl." The latter, winningly, has more of a wistful jangle than X's typical angst.The variety that Farris and Alvin bring to this disc is admirable. They hit some fine high points (particularly when casting Farris in a '60s pop and country vein); the lower marks are worthy experiments that should help guide Farris' future application of her unusual voice. Read more Less