Review of Carrie Elkin's Debut CD.
By Matthew Toledo 6/7/2001
The first time I ever heard of Carrie Elkin (related story) was when Dan D. told me that she might be willing to play the AMN Compilation CD party (photos) even though she wasn't on the disk. I was told Carrie was a folk singer with a heavenly voice, but there are lots of folk singers in Athens and I had heard that line a dozen times before. Much to my amazement, Carrie's performance at the release party lived up to the hype. She was, quite frankly, an awesome live singer. Very few people in this world can captivate an audience with just a voice and a guitar the way that Carrie can.
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Evidently, I'm not the only person in Athens that thinks Carrie is an amazing singer. I've tried three times this week to get a copy of Carrie Elkin's self titled debut CD, and the first two times I went to School kids, the disk was sold out. I finally got a hold of her disk and gave it a listen.
Carrie's style is one of contemporary folk with dashes of pop and Americana. She's not often political. Instead, a majority Carrie's subject matter deals with the condition of the human spirit and personal spirituality. Her self-titled début contains 8 originals and a handful of covers including "Iowa" by Dar Williams (bio) and "Angel from Mongomery" by John Prine (website, bio). All the tracks on her disc fall comfortably within the three to five minute time limit that radio stations impose on musicians if they want to get airplay.
As a guitarist, Carrie has a solid rhythm, yet strums more often than picks. She's not a razzle-dazzle folk guitarist like her mentor, the incredibly talented local folk guitar guru, Bruce Dalzel. Instead, Carrie's best and most obvious assets are her voice, seasoned-beyond-her-age song writing skills and--please forgive me for being a guy for just one moment--her appearance. She's a looker.
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Carrie uses her schizophrenic vocal tonality and controled vibrato to cover the entire range of folk singing styles. She has been blessed the the capability to adapt her voice to what the song demands and often varies from delicate and fragile, to soulful, to down-right boisterous. Are you "in" to obvious comparisons to other major label artists? Well, in the song "Hollow Eyes" Carrie's vibrato, and full tone make her sound a bit like Jewel (bio). Luckily for us, most of the time she sounds more like herself.
The song "Half Ridden Heart" is anthem for the broken hearted. It's the sort of song you would here at a country music lovin' truck stop / bar / coffee house right before closing time. You'd walk inside and see a room full of lonely, tired, blue-collar working 40 somethings singing every word in concert with the record. "Half Ridden Heart", pulls all the usual heart strings you would expect to hear in a song about a failed relationship, yet somehow manages to avoid all the cliché pitfalls that similar songs dealing with the subject of failed love often fall into. Instead, the lyrics hint to such clichés in order to add an air of familiarity to the song, but aren't trapped by them.
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Bruce Dalzel joins Carrie on her cover of John Prine's "Angel From Montogomery." It's a well written piece of Americana folk with a hookey chorus. The chorus is so hook-like that the track could easily be adapted for a full pop, or county band. This cover could serve as a vehicle to break her into mainstream radio, should she decide that's what she wants to do. How cool would it be to break into mainstream radio with a cover of John Prine!
Carrie's latest effort is a excellent collection of original folk tunes for the younger generation. The songs are well written, aren't trite or overly melodramatic, and not too downtrodden. What makes the disk special, besides Carries obvious talents, is that each track has a sense of purpose to it. If her rapid sales at School Kids here in Athens is any indication of anything, it shows that Carrie Elkin has a long and fruitful music career ahead of her. Best of luck Carrie.
