Leading ladies make lasting impressions with new releases

A parade of talented ladies score exceptionally high marks thanks to their latest releases representing winning styles from across the musical universe. 

 

Artist: Aimee Mann

Album: Charmer (SuperEgo Records)

You might be interested in buying this if you like: Beth Orton, Cat Power

Tell me more: No contemporary artist writes songs quite like Aimee Mann. On her newly-issued album "Charmer," the singer-songwriter offers up her literate observations via melodic and haunting songs that go down like vintage power-pop classics while boasting rich sonic colors and lyrical insights that artfully reveal themselves a little bit more with each subsequent listen.

Retro '80s sounds permeate the cool neo-New Wave "Gamma Ray." The undeniable "Labrador" is as catchy as any song released this year but attains even more ground with Mann's emotive soprano conveying the song's honest look at romantic betrayal.

On "Living a Lie," she shares lead vocals with the Shins' James Mercer, their voices forming another magical point on a potent and powerful album.

 

Listen to samples and get Charmer here

 

Artist: Susanna Hoffs

Album: Someday (Baroque Folk)  

You might be interested in buying this if you like: Petula Clark, Jackie DeShannon, Dusty Springfield, The Bangles

Tell me more: A musical love letter to the 1960s, Susanna Hoffs' shimmering solo release "Someday" recalls the classic recordings of Petula Clark and Jackie DeShannon. Produced by the Mitchell Froom (Crowded House, Vonda Shepard, Ron Sexsmith), "Someday" is no mere experiment in retro music making. The collection of Hoffs-penned material tackles real world emotion (the breezy "One Day" and wistful "Holding My Breath") and pulls experiences from her own life together into an enthralling collection of 10 songs that clock in at around 31 minutes. "All I Need" is as confessional as any song issued this year, while "Raining" recalls some of those amazing Jimmy Webb compositions recorded by Glen Campbell ("By the Time I Get to Phoenix," "Wichita Lineman," "Galveston") in the late '60s. "Someday" is one of those timeless sets that demands to be played front to back, and over and over. 

 

Listen to more samples and get Someday here

 

Artist: Sara Watkins

Album: Sun Midnight Sun (Nonesuch Records) 

You might be interested in buying this if you like: Sixpence None the Richer, Sheryl Crow, Nickel Creek

Tell me more: Like Brandi Carlile, Sara Watkins is a singer-songwriter not afraid to mix intelligent song craft and honest emotion in order to mine exciting new territory in the Americana genre. On her sophomore solo effort "Sun Midnight Sun," there is tuneful straight-forward material (the sing-along styled "You and Me" and "When It Pleases You"), bittersweet ballads ("Be There"), several fiddle-anchored instrumental tracks ("The Foothills," "The Ward Accord") and even edgy roots rock (a revised take on the Everly Brothers' classic "You're the One I Love" featuring Fiona Apple).

Perhaps the biggest surprise on the wonderful disc is the traditional "Impossible" that sounds as if it were plucked out of another times, but is firmly in step with the wonderful world that producer Blake Mills and Watkins have constructed across the album. 

 

Listen to more samples and get Sun Midnight Sun here

 

Artist: Shemekia Copeland

Album: 33 1/3 (Telarc International/Concord Music Group) 

You might be interested in buying this if you like: Bettye LaVette, Etta James, Bonnie Raitt

Tell me more: Blues is a genre where great artists are allowed to emerge on the scene, and over time, build solid careers based on strong recordings as well as via impressive appearances at legendary clubs and big outdoor festivals. At only 33, Shemekia Copeland is already a leading force in the blues world and one of the genre's leading proponents. The singer has already performed in the White House (sharing a bill with Buddy Guy, Mick Jagger and B.B. King) and was proclaimed "Queen of the Blues" at the Chicago Blues Festival in 2011. On the aptly-titled "33 1/3" (her age at the release of the album), the Harlem, New York native is clearly in a league all of her own; her voice belts out forcefully on the Chicago blues rocker "Lemon Pie" and on the soulful ballad "A Woman," while her spellbinding cover of Bob Dylan's "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight" and buoyant take on Sam Cooke's "Ain't That Good News" showcase her full-fledged interpretive skills.

 

Listen to more samples and get 33 1/3 here

Robert Kinsler 2012