CD Reviews

Allison Moorer

Mockingbird | New Line

By MIKAEL WOOD | February 26, 2008

3.0 Stars

Allison Moorer has been overshadowed her entire career by the success of older sister Shelby Lynne, and that’s hardly changed with the release of the ladies’ new CDs, both of which are covers discs. (It was, after all, Lynne’s Dusty Springfield tribute, Just a Little Lovin’, that occasioned a splashy New York Times Magazine profile a few weeks back.) Yet Moorer is an impressive stylist with a gorgeous Southern-soul voice all her own; her albums haven’t elicited the attention Lynne’s have, but a few of them (particularly 2006’s Getting Somewhere) are just as good. Here she covers material by some of her favorite female musicians, among them Patti Smith, Nina Simone, and Joni Mitchell. Working with producer Buddy Miller, Moorer takes an approach opposite to Lynne’s on the stripped-down Lovin’, giving each track its own distinct personality: Gillian Welch’s “Revelator” is droning folk rock, Simone’s “I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl” an organ-led torch song, June Carter Cash’s “Ring of Fire” a drum-looped twang-hop. They all deserve a little spotlight.

Allison Moorer + Steve Earle | Somerville Theatre, 55 Davis Square, Somerville | February 29 | 617.931.2000

Related: Cover girls, Start with some Spice, Got live if you want it, More

Topics: CD Reviews , Nina Simone, Patti Smith, Joni Mitchell, More

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