Lisa O'Kane: Am I Too Blue

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Lisa O'Kane brings to us through this beautiful recording a wonderful  choice of songs, some magnificent players, a great producer, and most of all, an exuberant talent and obvious affection for music that is pure country, strong and true to its roots.  But more than anything else, Lisa O'Kane can SING!

Contained on this disc are songs written by Lucinda Williams, Hank Sr., and
Bill Monroe, some from her own pen, and O'Kane is playing with such pickers as bassist Taras Prodanuik (currently with Lucinda Williams and formerly a part of Dwight Yoakam's band), elegant fiddler Scott Joss (Merle Haggard and Dwight Yoakam), Skip Edward on piano (also with Dwight Yoakam), guitarist Edward Tree (who also produced), and drummer James Cruce, O'Kane demonstrates with grace and elegance what a female country music singer should sound like.

She doesn't rely on pop loops and drum machines, nor is her voice obviously
looped through Pro Tools sound modifiers.  This is a woman with powerful vocal chords.  Her singing is simply beautiful, a voice that reaches right out of the speakers to grab the listener and draw them in.  She sings from the heart, with passionate affection for her subject, caressing her songs lovingly.

There isn't a bad track on this disc.  O'Kane knows how to deliver country style in all its simple elegance.  It seems strange that North California (O'Kane hails from the beautiful Yosemite Valley, which she pays homage to with the closing track, "The Valley") can produce so much marvelous, real country music, but it seems California's mountainous north country has given us more country music than Nashville; I hope we hear more from this marvelous singer and she keeps on bringing us her rich, beautiful, real sound for years to come.

Kathy Coleman Take Country Back January 2003