Duel

I bought a copy of this album late on the day my daughter was admitted to an intensive care unit for respiratory failure. I first played it late in the evening of that terrible day, and if I've ever felt more comfort from an album, I don't know what it would be.

Allison Moorer has a voice that's a little like Wynona Judd without the candy. It is a deep, resonant alto with huge dynamic range. The songs she writes and those she covers on this fine disc are performed with such conviction, it's breathtaking. Here and there, one of her lyrics fall flat, but so what? Her performance here is incredibly honest and polished. If you understand songs that address loss and redemption, you'll love this.

The lyrics are grim at times but so is life, and when the album ends, her final cut, which one reviewer here disliked, sounds like an aural sunrise to me. There is hope here, and its a big reason why the album works.

While I usually discuss recordings...Read more

When Allison Moorer came onto the music scene in 1998, with her major label debut ALABAMA SONG on MCA, she sang a soulful kind of country music that was all her own. Now in 2004, she released her 4th studio album on the independant label Sugar Hill. The sound has evolved a bit from the country sound, to a more rock edged sound that is evident throughout, especially the opening track "I Ain't Giving Up On You". Moorer is a confident songwriter, and a darn good one at that. Not only for lyrical reasons, but she knows how to write a catchy hook. Look no further than the song "Melancholy Polly". There's still some country elements, but with THE DUEL it sounds like Allison Moorer is more and more coming into her own sound, constantly evolving. Other highlights include the title track, "One On the House", "Believe You Me", and "All Aboard".

Having received virtually no joy from country radio to date, Allison Moorer not only took leave of the big labels for the rootsier confines of Sugar Hill Records, but she also took a harder approach to her music with her new release THE DUEL. A huge rock influence pervades this entire album, as does a new sophistication to her songwriting, albeit an arguably cynical and dark tone.

Allison hasn't completely forsaken her country roots as can be demonstrated on the steel-laden "One On The House", though even here the feel of the song is closer to James Taylor's "Bartender's Blues" than to any of today's standard-issue Nashville drinking songs. It helps that Allison's smoky R&B-influenced voice is as good as it is. Probably as gutsy a song as she could have ever written is the sardonic "All Aboard", which takes an underhanded swipe at the rampant far right-wing post-9/11 jingoism, even utilizing some of the right's own language ("and if you...Read more