Reviewed by Lins Honeyman

After meeting backstage at the Kennedy Center Honors event back in 2012, mainstream US blues and soul artist Beth Hart has teamed up with producers Michael Stevens and Rob Mathes for the first time to offer up a new slant on Hart's trademark approach of penning achingly candid songs that reflect her own struggles in life. Whilst the grounded positivity of the opener "Might As Well Smile" has a delightfully upbeat groove to it, the majority of the album is made up of more considered piano-led ballads that offer up more hope than despondency delivered with Hart's best vocal performance to date. In fact, it's Hart's voice - full of trembling passion and Joplin-like grit - rather than her sometimes clunky lyricism ("I don't really need a view/I'd rather climb on top of you", anyone?) that makes this collection of songs work. Proving her worth as a writer though, Hart tells the story from a third party's point of view in the likes of "We're Still Living In The City" which salutes the commitment of a married couple and - in the thoughtful "St Teresa" - she takes the guise of a male prisoner desperate to gain approval from God through the Roman Catholic saint. Elsewhere, more autobiographical offerings such as the self-explanatory "Mama This One's For You " and the utterly sublime "Tell Her You Belong To Me" showcase Hart's innate ability to write and perform songs that are truly absorbing and heart-wrenching whilst the likes of "Trouble" and "The Mood That I'm In" allow her bad girl persona to take command. Arguably the album's highlight, "Tell 'Em To Hold On" sums up this release's approach of offering up considered optimism and continues to chart Hart's yearning for both a Saviour and some peace of mind in stunning fashion.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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