Posted on: Friday, June 4, 2004

CD REVIEWS
Recordings by female singers worth listening to

By Eric R. Danton
Hartford (Conn.) Courant

Last year was not a strong year for music, particularly for female artists.

They're making up for it this year.

So far, 2004 has brought outstanding new albums from Loretta Lynn, Amy Farris, Sarah Harmer, Norah Jones and Juliana Hatfield, to name just a few. Here are four more albums that are well worth discovering:

• Sam Phillips, "A Boot and a Shoe" (Nonesuch). Produced by T Bone Burnett, this bare-bones record is breathtaking in its subtlety and deceptive simplicity. Phillips wrote all 13 tracks, which have a dusty vintage yet timeless feel. The instrumentation is spare — guitar, drums and faint bass, mostly — and it perfectly complements Phillips' dry voice. She threads her way around understated melodies that linger like smoke after fireworks. Highlights: "All Night," "Hole in My Pocket" and the mesmerizing waltz "Reflecting Light."

• Kate Jacobs, "You Call That Dark" (Bar/None). With her fourth album, Jacobs has done what every folk and Americana singer aspires to do, given life to her subjects and their hopes, dreams and shortcomings. There's tension and soft regret on "Pete's Gonna Sell," a rootsy song mourning the inevitability of so-called progress. "God Bless Ione" is a frantic rocker celebrating the return of a loved one. There's a bite to "Let Dusty Be Your Guide," where a more experienced protagonist offers a novice advice on handling rejection with dignity. Jacob sings in a clear, high voice that is expressive without sounding overly cute, and her lyrics are thoughtful and moving.

• Sandy Dillon, "Nobody's Sweetheart" (One Little Indian). The title of Dillon's latest, out this week, sounds proud and defiant unless you know that her husband recently died of a heart attack. Seen in that light, the title and the album take on a searing emotional resonance. "I'd rather burn a thousand years than feel the way I do," she sings on the first song, "Feel the Way I Do," over dark accompaniment from electric piano. The songs feature an eclectic mix of instruments and programming, and the album makes for fantastic late-night listening.

• Eszter Balint, "Mud" (Bar/None). Balint got her start as an actress, appearing in Jim Jarmusch's 1984 "Stranger Than Paradise." "Mud," her second album, makes a convincing case that she should focus on music. It's roots music as seen in a cracked mirror, with jagged bursts of slide guitar on "Pebbles & Stones" and a persistent buzzing that rises and falls on "No One." There's a studied yet ramshackle feel, and details carefully crafted to seem careless emerge over repeated listens.