(Reckless Records) Audrey Auld is an Australian country singer/songwriter, and though she's just beginning to gain recognition here in the States, she's a well known and popular artist on the Australian country music scene. She's won armfuls of awards, mostly for her work with Bill Chambers as part of the duo Bill & Audrey, and with the Dead Ringer Band (that includes various members of the Chambers family, including Bill's daughter Kasey).

Fallen is Audrey's self produced 2000 solo debut that's filled with traditional honky tonk and drenched in steel and fiddle. Helping her out on the disc are some of Australia's finest musicians that include the Feral Swing Katz, Bill Chambers, Rod McCormack, Mick Albeck, Kym Warner and Jedd Hughes, as well as Texas honky tonk king Dale Watson.

Fallen opens with a song of heartache and messing up a good thing in the shuffling barroom weeper "I'd Leave Me Too." As a matter of fact, Audrey provides several shuffles on Fallen. Trying to let go of a lover's memory is told in another barroom weeper, "Still Holding On To You." The tale of loneliness over missing a lover is told in "Without You," with it's classic shuffle beat, while the mid-tempo shuffle "To The Bone" is a declaration of love. Audrey turns on the sass with a raucous kiss off two-stepper, "Shove It," and she and Dale Watson deliver an outstanding barn burning, honky tonkin' cover of "Jackson."

Audrey delivers a good dose of ache too. "Too Far To Fall" is a weeping waltz about a lost love. She offers up a stellar and utterly moving rendition of Fred Eaglesmith's "Alcohol & Pills" that tells the mournful tale of so many of music's greats that were lost to those addictions. Fallen's two edgier tracks are the hard luck tale "Black Cloud" and the hauntingly bittersweet ballad, "Song For Clax." 

She cuts loose and has fun with another cover "Jelly Roll" which Audrey does up as a sassy, bluesy swing number. She tosses in a bit of bluegrass on another tale of lost love and letting go, "Missing You."

Audrey proves very adept at producing, and her original songs are well written and strong showing her prowess at combining traditional country with contemporary sensibilities. It's nearly impossible to find a trace of Australian accent in this lady's voice, she sounds as naturally country as if she were American born and raised, nothing here sounding forced or phoney at all. She also possesses a strong voice that moves easily from being quietly reflective to heartbreakingly aching to full of sass and defiance. Fallen is an impressive debut from an impressive country singer/songwriter who shows that she's more than capable of carrying on the traditional country music torch.    

Note: Audrey released her sophomore release, Losing Faith earlier this year. 

http://www.audreyauld.com

AnnMarie Harrington TakeCountryBack August 2003