*** Kelly Willis
WHAT I DESERVE
(Rykodisc)
What Kelly Willis deserves
is a career explosion like Shania Twain's, but she's just not cheesy enough to
be a country megastar. A truly gifted singer, Willis uses her unaffected
vibrato to convey tremendous depth and vulnerability, as well as an inkling as
to why she's spent the last decade label-hopping instead of chart-topping. She
was signed to a record deal at age 21, but even the Nashville star-making
machinery couldn't taint the pure, gorgeous ache in her voice, confine her to
singing country music, or eradicate her good taste in songwriters.
What I Deserve, then, seems to be the album Willis has always wanted to
make. Assembling a who's who of twang, including guitarists Mark Spencer (Blood
Oranges), Chuck Prophet (ex-Green on Red), and Lloyd Maines (Richard Buckner),
and authoring songs with Gary Louris (Jayhawks) and John Leventhal (Shawn
Colvin), Willis broadens her own country-rock hybrid with a shot of vintage
'60s soul, following in the footsteps of such genre-crossing trailblazers as
Dan Penn (who co-wrote a song here) and the Flying Burrito Brothers. Handpicked
covers by Nick Drake, Paul Westerberg, and Paul Kelly add to the album's
eclecticism, it's Willis who links these songs with her remarkable,
untarnishable voice.
-- Meredith Ochs
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