Down-to-Earth Americana Goodness
On her MySpace page, Brianna Lane lists a number of female singers that she sounds like: Shawn Colvin, Jonatha Brooke, Suzanne Vega, Aimee Mann. The list goes on.
But she misses the one singer who immediately jumps to mind - at least my mind. On her third self-released CD, "let you in," Lane croons with the same sweet I'm-just-taking-my-time-here-so-grab-that-bottle-of-whiskey-and-join-me style of Rickie Lee Jones.
Her intimate just-this-side-of-breathless voice plays well off the confessional narrative of her lyrics. In True North, Lane uses lovely lyrical imagery as she sings of wandering through the desert. "We were angels caught in the windstorm. We lost our halos. We lost our true north...We were shouting, Jesus saves you. No one listenin' to the preacher."
Lane describes herself as belonging to the "alterna-folkie" genre - and her songs do indeed remind one of the above referenced Shawn Colvin and Jonatha Brooke. She grew up in Minnesota, but for the past three years she has been touring non-stop.
Evan Brubaker produced the all-acoustic "Let you in," as well as Lane's second CD, "Radiator." But "Let you in" differs markedly from the electric-guitar-and-drum instrumentation of Lane's previous effort. Her latest CD features upright bassist Keith Lowe who has worked closely with Bill Frisell, Laura Veirs, Fiona Apple and Dave Mathews. Seattle's Zak Borden plays some very pretty mandolin and singer/songwriter Jonathan Kingham adds dobro and banjo to a few tracks.
To listen to sample tracks, visit Lane's MySpace page at: http://www.myspace.com/briannalane
You can listen / buy Brainna Lane's Let You In here.
