** Catie Curtis

A CRASH COURSE IN ROSES

(Rykodisc)

Catie Curtis has a growing reputation as a sensitive singer/songwriter, with a warm, engaging alto that gently invites listeners to join her as she explores the shifting emotional landscape of her heart with quiet grace. Her strong suit is subtlety, but in the world of pop music subtlety doesn't count for much, so Curtis faces the same problem that plagues many of today's young folk musicians: how to appeal to a wider pop audience without forsaking the music's acoustic roots.

On Crash Course she's backed by a solid quartet of session players, and though they have the entire spectrum of American folk music to draw on, the arrangements stick to predictable folk/pop formulas, with the easy-listening vibe ensuring that nothing really takes off. When Curtis shows a bit of lyrical and vocal spunk -- as on the poignant ode to lost love "World Don't Owe Me," the saucy intellectual seduction "Stay Up All Night," or "What's the Matter," in which a small town's lone bohemian questions the small minds that surround her -- she fares better. But for the most part both singer and the band play it too safe.

-- J. Poet