Customer Reviews

When the Roses Bloom Again

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A fine piece of work by Ms. Cantrell. Her band does not distract attention from her glorious voice, nor does it need to; her voice is so solidly infectious that it can stand on its own. I found myself soothed and inspired by Laura's style and sound. Track twelve, the old Frankie Bailes waltz, is simply beautiful.

It is a telling commentary on modern country music that some of the finest new voices are coming out of "nontraditional" locales. Mind you, these voices do not receive any significant airplay, but they are there for those looking and listening hard enough to find them.

Toss aside your commercial, cookie-cutter discs. Pick up some Laura Cantrell and be reintroduced to great country music.

Vocals here are extra special. Hardly any need to say this, it's so obvious. Outstanding songs. If you play only the first 15 seconds of these songs: they work - a sure sign they are very strong and direct. Someone knows what they are doing. Her talents are actualy quite scary. Production is still quite rough but is better than the first album. The roughness adds to the charm perhaps. It would be interesting to see what would happen if serious dollars were thrown into the production in her next release. This would only be good if the producer was absolutely the best in the business. Getting certain things to sound better without losing LC's amazing vocals is the thing to concentrate on, but most folk couldn't do it i reckon. A few more like this first please. Anyway, this is a seriously wonderful album with fantastic variation in mood and a great flow.

What is wrong with country music that this marvelous talent is not a huge star? Laura's second album shimmers right along side her first release, with superb and subtle vocals, beautiful understated backing, and well-penned or well-chosen tunes. Like others, I love Lucinda Williams, but Laura's music is quite different. I'm not expert enough to say how good a 'singer' she is, but she is blessed with a lovely voice and great taste in music. Don't miss this one.

BBC DJ John Peel called her first album, Not Tremblin' Kind "my favorite record of the last 10 years and possibly my life." IMHO this second one is every bit as good. Intelligent, understated, nuanced singing. Though a good composer, she is almost unsurpassed as an interpreter. Her Tremulous voice reaches out and inhabits the heart and the mind. Bends the note perfectly to fit the emotion and the word. Yes, like Kitty Wells, but with a little plain-folk Mother Maybelle Carter thrown in. You need this and her first CD -- they are of a whole. This one is slightly better recorded, and is in fact HDCD encoded. If you have an HDCD player (unlikely) the effect is quite startling -- almost like she is there. (But like all HDCD encoded dics, this plays perfectly on all cd and DVD players)

I became aware of Laura's music in Oct of 2002, when I saw her opening for Elivs Costello on two different evenings. What first struck me was her voice....pure and true. Put that in front of a great group of instrumentalist (Jon Graboff holds the band together like glue, adding tasty pedal stell and mandolin parts, in addition to breaking out the Rick 12 string on some of the Jangly tunes) and you have the ingredients for an amazing experience. Soon after seeing her in concert, I purchased both of her CD's. Both CD's seem to be in the same vein (both have a few rockers, a few country songs, and some more folksy things), and are very well balanced. At first I thought the albums, (though great), had a very dry sound to them (dry in the sense that there was no reverb or other effect on the voice), but I have since come to like the production as well as I like the songs and singing, and really appreciate the no nonsense way of presenting this batch of tunes. In short, Laura Cantrell (and band) have become one of my favorite bands, and I listen to her two albums (and her 1996 EP release, Hello) on a regular basis. I most recently saw her perform in late June at a small club in Nashville and had the pleasure of talking with her for a bit. In addition to being a great singer/songwriter, she is also a very nice person. Talent, beauty, and a great personality: There must be a flaw somewhere, but I haven't found it yet!! All of her albums have my highest recomendation.

I found Laura Cantrell via X Country, Channel 12 on XM satellite radio. This is an amazing disc! It's a shame that artists like Laura do not get radio play. This disc is well recorded, good musicians, and of course her great voice! Pardon me while I get on my soapbox, but Nashville has lost it's compass. REAL country music is being recorded in places like New York and Portland, OR. I have never considered myself a "country" music fan, but I just love the mix of twang and rock of the "alt country" artists. Maybe it has something to do with being forced by my parents to listen to country music in the car during the 70's. These progressive country artists have soul and it comes across in their music, it's not the commercial...on the radio. Go buy this disc!

Laura is often compared to Nanci Griffith and Lucinda Williams, two brilliant ladies who sing music that blends country and folk - just as Laura does. While I can understand the comparison, Laura is, to my ears, a little more country and a little less folk than the other two. That doesn't make her better or worse than Nanci and Lucinda, but just different. In any case, anybody who likes one of them will surely like all three.

This is Laura's second album. Laura wrote four of the songs herself, these being Too late for tonight, Early days, Broken again and a song based on the life of 1940's hillbilly singer Molly O'Day titled Mountain fern.

There are several covers of songs wriiten by New York songwriters - Don't break the heart (Amy Rigby), Conqueror's song (Dave Schramm), All the same to you (Joe Flood), Wait (Jay Sherman-Godfrey) and Vaguest idea (Dan Prater).

According to Laura's official website, the title track is a cover of a song intended for the Wilco/Billy Bragg tribute to Woody Guthrie (Mermaid Avenue), which was dropped from that album when it was discovered that the song was not written by Woody.

As well as Mountain fern and When the roses bloom again, there is furher evidence of Laura's enthusiasm for old-time country music via covers of of Yonder comes a freight train (Jim and Jesse) and Oh so many years (originally a duet by Kitty Wells and Webb Pierce).

Traditional country is enjoying an upsurge in popularity, and it doesn't get any better than this. Laura deserves to be a major star. You can help her achieve that by buying her albums.

I feel hesitant to add my two cents; I am a classical fan, not country. Good singing, though, is good singing, whether it be opera, country, or anything else. This disc was given to me and I simply had to hear what such a stunningly beautiful woman as her sounded like. I was not disappointed. Her vocal style is completely free from annoying mannerisms and cheap over-emoting. Her delivery is at all times tasteful, intelligent, understated, and honest. Like all great singing artists, she lets each song speak for itself. She mixes styles quite successfully, as noted by some of the other reviewers here. The songs don't all sound alike, and there is not a loser in the bunch. Her voice is light and pure, like Emmy Lou Harris, but not as reedy as Harris. And she is always utterly feminine. This disc will appeal to anyone who appreciates honest emotions, tastefully delivered.

A fine piece of work by Ms. Cantrell. Her band does not distract attention from her infectious voice, and that is because her voice is so good that it can stand on its own. I found myself soothed and inspired by Laura's sound. Track twelve, the old Frankie Bailes tune, is simply beautiful.

It is a telling commentary on modern country music that the finest new voices are coming out of "nontraditional" locales. Mind you, these voices do not receive any significant airplay, but they are there for those looking/listening hard enough to find them.

Throw away your Shania Twain and Darryl Worley cookiecutter discs. Pick up some Laura Cantrell and be reintroduced to great country music.

A clear, fluid, and natural voice, somewhat like that of Emylou Harris, accompanied by accoustic and electric guitars, and drums, and sometimes a mandolin. The style is rather country music, with some tunes reminding me of the Beatles, the Bangles, the early Lucinda Williams, Norman Blake, Alison Krauss, or Susanna Van Tassel. I only heard one of her songs on the radio, and was happy with the rest of her album when I got it. My two favorite songs of the CD are Early Years and Yonder Comes a Freight Train.