Club Fandango Records, 26/7/10

Tina Lie ( pronounced Lee) has been making waves on the country and soft rock American music scene for years. With a self described sound of 'country...and a little rock n roll' , Tina has wowed audiences from Oktoberfest to Liverpool's The Cavern Club with her 'honest music'. Well, with reknowned Country producer Byron House (think Dolly Parton kids, yep there you go); Tina's new album  'Free enough to fall' is set to soar up the Country charts at the least.

With a huskily captivating, thirty-cigarettes-and-two-bottles-of-Jack-please voice, Tinas appeal to those who may not usually venture into Country music is a voice that invites you to listen to her.  The sole focus throughout most of the tracks is Tinas husky vocal delivery; reflective,  compassionate, at times feisty. Her not vast, but still impressive, vocal range is mostly offset with some genre typical guitar solos.

Backed by strong musicians that veer towards mainstream blues and Americana ,it has been effectively produced by a big name; the album is slick and doubtless a crowd pleaser in its genre.

On the downside, due to some clumsy co-writing and collaboration, the lyrics swing between highly decorative: "My tears my only diamonds, my son's eyes sapphire blue" ( 'Pirates Heart' ), to wildy simplistic.  This at times leaves Tina's heartfelt vocal style, feeling overdramatic. For example, on Americana heavy style ballad 'Freedom Child'  Tina Laments, "I...sought the safety of  your guard. I never dreamed you'd keep me locked up in the yard"." Whilst hopefully this is metaphorical, it  conjures up images of abandoned dogs and RSPCA adverts.


However, on the whole this is a nicely put together album that, whilst musically sound and vocally interesting will still  probably fare far better on US turf than in the UK. A definite buy for Country/ Americana fans.

Posted In Album Reviews, Aug 02 2010. Words - Lara