Customer Reviews

Songs From the Levee

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

 

 

I learned of this CD and Kate Cambell from piece done on NPR's All Things Considered. She is not someone I would have found on my own, because I am not a big fan of country music, but this CD made me rethink the genre. She has a very nice voice, but it is her way presenting the lyrics and the story of the song that make her stand out. 'Lanterns on the Levee' and 'Bury Me In Bluegrass' are good examples of her ability to make a song more than the sum of words and singing. Kate writes stories that introduce you to life in the south and the struggles of growing up during a very transitional time in the region. 'Mississippi And Me' and 'A Cotton Field Away' both seem autobiographical and certainly grabbed me out of my California point of view. This CD is beautiful, well put together and thought provoking at the same time, and it bears repeated listenings. It was my first disc, but not my last from this talented and soulful artist.

If you love Nanci Griffith, just go out and buy this. We kept reading about Kate on the NanciNet and then one day stumbled onto this CD in one of those stores where you can listen. You know how you sort of listen to a few bars of each cut just to see if you might like the album? Well, it took about 20 minutes to preview this one because I couldn't stop listening to it! This is a major Southern talent, but not a regional talent. She brings us compelling human stories with her music, and her roots are Southern, but the music is truly universal. Gonna go put some more copies in my shopping cart for family and friends.

Kate Campbell is the real deal. I know, you've heard that one before. But stop and listen. Her voice is crystal clear, and you know she's thinking about what she's singing when she's singing it. I can't find a false note in the whole record. And I find myself singing her tunes long after the CD player has stopped. But hearing her on CD and live are two different things. If you like her recordings, by all means seek her out and see her live. You will be transformed.

I just saw Kate Campbell play last night-she was warm, funny, and sang beautifully. Backed by nothing but her guitar, her voice conveyed the message of her songs in a way hard to describe with words. Try any of her albums. If you like songs that evoke images of your past or you can connect to on a personel level, you will enjoy Kate Campbell.

As might be clear from the title, this is Southern folk, shot through with memory and heat. Kate Campbell quotes Eudora Welty on the fusion of past and present, living and dead. One song includes sound bites from George Wallace and Martin Luther King, whose voices -- espousing and denouncing segregation -- sound remarkably alike. Some of the songs are excellent, particularly in the second half of the play list -- Jerusalem Inn, Trains Don't Run From Nashville, and -- ending the CD on the best note -- Bury Me in Bluegrass. All that said, there's a torpor here too, not a whole lot of passion expended in the playing or the singing and a couple of very weak songs -- Locust Years, the album's shortest cut, seems endless and trite. Good, but makes me wonder if she challenges herself more on some of her other recordings.

I LOVE ALL HER RELEASES AND CANT WAIT TO BOOK HER. GO TO HER WEBSITE AND CHECK OUT THE SHOW NEAREST YOU. AFTERWARDS COME BACK AND BUY ONE OR ALL LIKE I DID.

Songs from the Levee is one of those CDs that I should like, but just can't. I've tried, really. The songs remind me of a watered-down version of Lucinda Williams while you're listening, but are instantly forgotten once the CD's over. I usually listen to music at work and find myself turning the volume low on many of the songs because the lyrics are embarassingly bad. "I like a man like a buffalo"? Come on, please, this one could've been written by a junior high kid fresh out of a "Captain Planet and the Planeteers" cartoon-fest. Time to bring this one to the Used CD exchange....