Release Date: Jul 12, 2011
Genre(s): Country, Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock, Alternative Country-Rock, Country-Folk, Country-Rock, International
Record label: Liberation
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Already certified platinum in her native Australia, Kasey Chambers’s sixth album, Little Bird, has finally made its belated debut in the U.S. nearly a year after its initial release. Despite favorable comparisons to Lucinda Williams, Patty Griffin, and even Taylor Swift, Kasey Chambers simply hasn’t connected with American audiences the way she has with listeners in her home country, where she’s been a major star for well over a decade.
For those listeners old enough to remember those classic Nanci Griffith albums from the ‘80s (Once in a Very Blue Moon, Last of the True Believers, Little Love Affairs), the latest Kasey Chambers release will serve as a welcome return to that thrilling country-folk-pop-rock sound of yesterday. On songs such as “Someone Like Me” and “Beautiful Mess”, Chambers’ sweet vocals and earnest declarations of love recall the best of Griffith and that era’s music. For those too young to remember music from back then, these songs will be a revelation.
Kasey Chambers has a dozen years on Taylor Swift -- hell, she could have been an influence -- but since the Pennsylvania girl took over the world, Chambers landed on the "you may also like" list. Not that that's a bad thing, though, as the ladies share the same brand of streamlined country-pop that sounds universal enough to appeal to romantic music aficionados anywhere in the world, but without losing that American vibe that Chambers creates no less skillfully for being an Australian. Little Bird is more old school, as it peppers the pop hits with honest to God country numbers, complete with banjo and fiddle -- see "Georgia Brown" or the closer.
When Australian Kasey Chambers first stepped into the limelight, she seemed like a little bird — young and delightfully precious, if not precocious. She idolized Lucinda Williams, and toured with — and sometimes sounded like — America’s own Americana queen. But on “Little Bird,” Chambers harks back to her early era, without for a minute sounding reminiscent of any other artist.
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