Caroline Herring IS Roots Country at it's best!

Caroline Herring : Lantana

A singer's best friend is their voice! A songwriter's is their ability to observe and record what they see and then turn it into rhyme.

If you haven't heard Caroline Herring before, get to hear her soon. Her voice is astonishing; her observation is acute, her lyrics are sharp and her music is sublime!

I say none of those things lightly. When an album like "Lantana" starts to play, and a voice like Caroline Herring's fills the room, you just know you're hearing something that's more than special.

This lady is a true artist who's Roots music is what true Country music should be all about!

With all of that said, I can promise that many folks reading this will hear the album and wonder what the fuss is about.  Let me try to explain.

Herring's wonderful voice grabs the attention the moment "Stone Cold World" opens the album and it doesn't let go until the final track finishes!

The vibrato in her voice is part of her, by which I mean it's completely natural. I find it both remarkable and beautiful.

The music is pure acoustic Country Roots. Guitars, an upright bass a banjo, a fiddle gentle drums and, here and there, a superb pedal steel. And not an orchestra, or synthesizer, or vocoder in sight!   

The opening track is one of the album's highlights portraying life in Newfoundland, and how it must have been for those who first pioneered the land there. But her voice on this song is at it's very very best.

She's not afraid of difficult subjects. "Paper Gown" is her view on Susan Smith, the South Carolina woman who drowned her sons. It's an incredibly moving song with a very telling and incredibly catchy chorus.

I don't have a favorite track here. "Lay My Burden Down" is brilliant especially the fiddle played by Warren Hood. Rich Brotherton is to be congratulated for the production here. To get such clean, clear sounds and yet to fill the speakers so completely is a true skill!  Well done, sir!

"States Of Grace" shuffles along in a pleasing way and once again, Herring's voice stars.

Every one of the musicians on the album play a major role in the songs. I don't have space to mention them all but Marty Muse, Warren Hood and Danny Barnes deserve special mention.

Muse shows, on "Heartbreak Tonight", that the pedal steel guitar can be a subtle addition to a song. Hood's deft touches on fiddle and viola add grace and depth to Herring's carefully crafted songs while Barnes banjo is always a gentle backing rather than an overpowering presence.

Many will ask whether this is Country music at all. Some will suggest it is folk music, or even gentle rock.

I have no doubts. This is the kind of music that was played around campfires a hundred years ago. It is the kind of music that gave Country music it's roots. It is ROOTS music and my fervent  hope is that it is still being played a hundreds years from now.

My View:  Bring out the red carpet. This lady should walk off with every award in 2008!

What do YOU think?? Tell us here!