Sing Me Out Reviews

HARP

The daughter of a Mississippi Baptist minister, Kate Campbell has been putting out finely crafted singer/songwriter albums since 1995.  In today's Nashville her soft country/rock tunes are "too Southern," or more properly, too working class to get covered. On Sing Me Out and Portable Campbell deals with that problem by covering 29 of the 33 songs from her albums Moonpie Dreams, Visions Of Plenty and Rosaryville. Campbell writes crafty melodies that never resolve in the way you'd expect, while her pleasing, understated voice has a strong Southern accent, which gives her tales of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances an authentic ring. They may sweep floors in a church or build giant rosaries out of bowling balls, but they're all people you know and Campbell's compassionate vignettes make the halos they wear sparkle. Sing Me Out is acoustic; The Portable Kate is electric.  But both are crammed with solid, road-tested gems from a highly original writer.

-- J Poet