Allison Moorer: Getting Somewhere

Allison Moorer
Getting Somewhere
Sugar Hill

If your impression of Allison Moorer is based solely on "Looking For a Soft Place to Fall," the surprise slam dunk off 1998's "The Horse Whisperer" soundtrack, prepare to be jolted awake. Moorer's latest offering, "Getting Somewhere," (out June 13) ain't no quiet, introspective album. It's a LOUD introspective album, and despite the less-than-sunny subject matter on some tracks, it's a lot of fun to hear.

Let's get some stuff out of the way right off the bat: Yes, she's Shelby Lynne's sister. Yes, she's now married to Steve Earle. Yes, her parents died when she was 14 in a murder-suicide. None of that would be all that important to a review of this album -- except all of it plays a part on "Getting Somewhere." Hubby Steve's part is as the album's producer (and it shows) and a brief vocal assist on "If It's Just for Today," and the family/childhood stuff is the well from which Moorer has drawn inspiration for this album's songs, all of which she wrote herself. Nowhere does her childhood trauma figure more than on "How She Does It" -- a sort of revisionist history of that whole murder-suicide thing, the lyrics showing how Moorer wishes things had gone instead.

"None of these songs are made up out of nothing," Moorer says on her Web site, "they all came from something I was experiencing at that moment or had experienced earlier." An approach that honest you'd think would have a stripped-down sound, right? Moorer's sultry, soulful vocals over a gently strummed guitar, perhaps?

No sir.

The very first song kicks off with a pulsating electric guitar, what the kids call a "power chord." I have to admit I hated -- hated -- "Work To Do" on first listen. It's loud, it's layered, it contains a "whoo!", it's ... well dammit, it's catchy. The lyrics are smart (though sung in kind of annoying, choppy clumps in the verses, a tactic thankfully reversed for the smooth-as-silk chorus) and I found myself having some fun with it on subsequent listens. The album's single, "Fairweather," takes a similarly upbeat tone, both lyrically and melodically. And it inspired similar resistance in me on first listen ... and I was similarly worn down to where I'm digging the song now.

The lowdown is this: Moorer's Web site openly admits that with this album she's "reaching for a wider pop-country audience," and I'd say her aim is true. The songs are short (there are 10 and the album clocks in at a lickedy-split 30 minutes -- you do the math) and slick. The guitars are electric and crunchy, and the drums are used to maximum effect. But dammit, it's summer, and sometimes a little pop can go a long way when you're wearing flip-flops and driving around with the windows down. As much as the label "country-pop" makes me wince, "Getting Somewhere" shows that it doesn't have to be a bad thing. Sometimes, when handled well, smart and slick can go hand in hand.