Search - Christy Mcwilson :: The Lucky One

Outstanding

Susan Cook | Tennessee | 05/03/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I've been purchasing music for over 30 yrs now, and maybe in that time, about five artists have totally impressed me and made me want to run out and buy their music and tell all my friends about them. This is one of those artists. Her hauntingly beautiful voice reminds ME of Joan Baez (have heard her compared to many others). Listen to some cuts and see if you agree with me. I can't get her voice out of my head. And that's a good thing..."

Get Her A Songwriter

James Carragher | New York | 11/05/2002

(3 out of 5 stars)

"What's the lesson to be drawn here? Maybe that Seattle-ites shouldn't try to do country, for this just doesn't impress me much. There's nothing really wrong; McWilson has a fine sometimes lilting, sometimes belter voice, Dave Alvin's production is crisp and clean, and the playing is all you'd expect from the likes of REM's Peter Buck and others. There is a particularly fine keyboard and accordion riff in Today is Yesterday's Tomorrow that recalls the Sir Douglas Quintet classic Mendocino. Still, nothing sets this apart from dozens of other country CDs. Weak writing is the main culprit; cliches abound (Today is Yesterday's Tomorrow, yes, so what?) and too many of the songs are general laments without either distinction or resolution -- corks bob on the ocean, what goes out comes back again, the weight of the world is heavy, wishing doesn't always make it so. Well...duh. The sad part is that nowhere on the CD are such sentiments written or delivered with the least trace of irony. This problem is especially odd because producer Alvin in his own writing is a master of the telling detail that drives a song home. To close on a positive note, three songs are keepers -- the title cut, Eloda and Cryin Out Loud."