*** Danielle Howle

CATALOG

(Kill Rock Stars)

When Danielle Howle sings, "It was such a gift to rock," at this album's outset, it doesn't mean what you probably think. She's just relating fond memories of a treetop chair. And the song's chorus, "I just like to watch," is absolutely not a double entendre. It's a fitting start for a mostly-solo acoustic disc of front-porch music with a rural Southern tinge.

Although she's fronted two electric bands (Lay Quiet Awhile and the Tantrums), Howle is probably better known for the charming and rambling spoken monologues she does between songs on stage (these were captured a few years back on an live album for Amy Ray's Daemon label). To her credit, she doesn't take the easy path and push her eccentric side forward: the mood here is mostly somber, with a dozen songs covering farewells to friends, lovers, and deceased relatives. She has the same conversational delivery that Vic Chesnutt's perfected, and she can work similar wonders with subtle shifts of tone. The one thing she needs is an editor: "Still in Love with You" is a lovely countryish tune, but it's crammed a bit tight with words. And the five-minute "Ode to the Group Boys" says a lot of bittersweet goodbyes without much in the way of explanation. Mostly, though, Howle's songs have more than enough depth. She just needs to slow down and write another catchy chorus or two.

-- Brett Milano