DEANA CARTER
The Story Of My Life (Vanguard)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale

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Deana Carter describes the music on her first disc for Vanguard as southern, as opposed to country. It's a good description, because outside the distinctive cadence of her remarkable voice, there's little about the album that sounds like even the broadest definition of country music. Nonetheless, the music on the album seems to have more to do with Appalachian porches and back road honky tonks than with the L.A. studio it was created in.

Carter's move from Nashville to L.A. is a fairly big part of the story here. A member of Nashville's other Carter family (her dad, Fred Carter, Jr. is an A-list guitarist, with credits including Bob Dylan, Paul Simon and Tony Bennett), her early signs of talent and success swept her into her hometown's music production machine, and it's actually been awhile since we really heard Deana Carter's music recorded, though there have been some very successful Deana Carter recordings. This time she did it her way, and she's done it wonderfully. When she waxes autobiographical, she's got a lot to say, going through divorce, romance and pending motherhood as the material for this disc was collected. When she turns her attention wistfully toward home, she creates musical portraits of the people and places she's known that sparkle in their clarity.

All that, and Carter plays guitars, bass, keyboards and contributed to the string arrangements, to boot. It's a breakthrough album from an artist ready to shine her own light her own way.

Track List:

The Girl You Left Me For * One Day At A Time * Ordinary * In A Heartbeat * Katie * Atlanta & Birmingham * She's Good For You * Not Another Love Song * Sunny Day * Getting Over You * The Story Of My Life

© 2005 - Shaun Dale