STYLE: Country RATING OUR PRODUCT CODE: 20266-11557 LABEL: Independent FORMAT: CD Album ITEMS: 1
Reviewed by Richard Toller
"My faded memories are haunting me tonight" and this debut album from Nashville singer/songwriter Stacy Jagger contains some haunting music. Comparisons with singers like Alison Krauss and Emmylou Harris give you some idea of what to expect, but it would be wrong to pigeonhole her in one category. Songs on this album range from bluegrass through folk ballads to blues to swing, with a pinch of Celtic: an eclectic mix but one that hangs together well. Typically the music features delicately-picked acoustic guitar, with some electric guitar and piano. Stacy's voice is a fine instrument in itself, adapting to the different styles of the songs - all self-penned apart from the traditional lullaby "Dreamland Tree" and the W B Yeats poem Innisfree which Stacy has set to music. These are songs of love and loss, yearning and seeking, some overtly Christian but all leading to one focus: through "I call out Holy Father/I call out my dear friend/Will you come and listen/And calm my heart's lament" ("Bliss") to the realisation that "Before the world I knew your name" ("Before The World"). A couple of up-tempo belters let Stacy show the power in her voice, but it's in the haunting beauty of the ballads that she is most effective.
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