Somewhere in the dirt and grime of the Big Apple, you’ll find diamond in the rough, Annie Keating. Raised in Boston, now residing in New York, Keating is a city girl with a country heart. Her sound is pure Americana, twang-infused folk storytelling with blissful tooth and grit. She’s been compared to Kathleen Edwards, Gillian Welch and Lucinda Williams. Adding to that list, fans of Nashville’s Garrison Starr will also find comfort in the music of Annie Keating.
Her sophmore album, Take the Wheel explores themes of love and longing as well as good times past and optimistically better times ahead. Start with opening track “Finish What You Start”, where a lover crosses a thin line resulting in heartbreak, “Lie to me baby / But don’t you come on back / Cheat and then steal / You’ll be sorry for that”. Credit goes to Jordan Anderson for the notable banjo work. Catch, “Keeping Time” a tale of liberation from hard work and desire to seek solace in friends. In another called “Waiting Game” you’ll hear the yearning for a lover’s return accompanied by a painful uncertain wait. There are several more songs on the album with similarly rich themes and beautiful music.
Band members, Dan Vonnegut (drums, percussion), Matt Lindsey (bass), Chris Tarrow (acoustic and electric guitars, six string bass guitar, mandolin) and Carl Baggaley (piano, Wurlitzer electric piano, Arp string ensemble, Elka organ and electric harpsichord) deserve much credit for complementing Keating so well.
Because the album largely consists of mid-tempo to down-tempo songs, each song tends to have an element of sameness. It would have been nice to have heard a few more up-tempo tracks or even an attempt at a bluesy number to complement the resonant themes. All in all, this is a good album and should serve to give Keating a solid foundation as an Americana/Roots artist.
If you want to learn more or sample some music, check out Annie Keating’s web site or MySpace profile. If you want to catch a live show, she spends a lot of time playing in NYC and touring the northeastern United States.
About the author: Washington, D.C. area creative by day. Music is my muse. I host Twangville’s weekly Readers‘ Pick.