Artist : Sharon LittleAlbum : Perfect Time For A Breakdown (2008)
Genre : Blues (White Girl Blues)
Rating : ***** * (out of 10*)
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This Week I'm Listening To...
Sharon Little was the opening act at the recent Robert Plant/Alison Krauss concert. As mentioned in the review for that, Sharon gave a solid performance, albeit nothing that would make Plant/Krauss fear being upstaged. Perfect Time For A Breakdown is her accompanying CD, and you can find all her concert tracks on it. This is her debut album, other than a demo, Drawing Circles, issued in 2006.
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YouTube Links...
You can hear/see Sharon singing Try, which IMO is her best song, here. And Follow That Sound, another good track from PTfaB, is here. There's another half-dozen or so SL clips out there at YouTube, so you can get quite familiar with her.
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What's To Like...
PTfaB exists to showcase Ms. Little's singing abilities, and it does a good job at that. All the songs are done in White Girl Blues style, but there's a nice variety of sounds within that sub-genre.
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PTfaB can be summed up in two words : "Not Bad". The songwriter is not bad. Sharon's singing is not bad. Her stage-show is not bad.
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Her publicist is doing a not-bad job. In addition to the YouTube videos, someone has recently (last couple weeks) added a short entry on her at Wikipedia. 12 of Sharon's family and close friends have posted rave reviews at Amazon.com. OTOH, the RateYourMusic entry is badly out-of-date, and has no entries.
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What's Not To Like...
Well, PTfaB can also be summed up in three words : Not Bad, But... The fundamental weakness noted at the concert carries over to the album - Sharon shares the spotlight with the rhythm guitarist, Scot ("one-T") Sax. The CD blurb says he co-wrote a lot of the songs with Sharon. And for all I know he might also be her main squeeze. But folks, the last time I saw a rhythm guitarist in the limelight was REO Speedwagon, and there at least he was also one of the lead singers.
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Accordingly, the lead guitar is relegated to the shadows, both musically and personally. Sorry, Sharon, you're not bad, but to make it to the top, I honestly think you need to be complemented by a b*tchin' lead guitar. Hey, maybe you can persuade T Bone Burnett to join you. That would be quite the pairing.
Perfect Time For A Wannabee...
White Girl Blues is not one of my favorite music types, so I polled a multitude of other people who attended the Phoenix concert. I can't tell you their exact number, but both of them agreed with me - there are other artists who do this sort of stuff better.
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Personally I felt Sharon was a Melissa Etheridge wannabee. Liz, who knows this genre far better than I, called her a Tracy Chapman wannabee. My co-worker friend suggested she was a Susan Tedeschi wannabee, who in turn has often been called a Bonnie Raitt wannabee. What does it say about you when you can be summed up as a wannabee wannabee?
So we'll give PTfaB six "not bad" stars. And check back with her when her next album comes out. Here's hoping there will be a next album.
4 comments:
you're kidding, right?
wanna be? sharon has a g-d given tone to her voice and depth that is so not copied it's not even funny. listen to "peppermint and glue" from the album and tell me if that ain't the real thing.
none of those artists you mentioned have anything like that.
a "bi#$#chin' lead guitarist" would make her just like the folks you said she sounds like.
i think you should slow your roll and listen again.
i respect your opinion as a fellow music fan, but c'mon...you should recognize the real deal when you hear it.
hey, Anon, you make good points re Sharon. have you seen her live, or just listened to her CD?
everyone's musical tastes are different, so i won't get into a "who's better than who" discussion. i think the "proof", so to speak, will be in seeing where Sharon is in three years. will she be headlining a tour? or will she be playing local coffeehouses in Philly and waitressing to make ends meet? time will tell.
i still think Scot Sax is a drag on her career. that is strictly my 2-cent opinion. he writes okay songs, but there's a conspicuous lack of guitar soloes, and he ain't no Bernie Taupin.
i think Sharon has talent, but it works against her to be solely a singer. Etheridge, Tedeschi, and Raitt all play guitar. if all you do is sing, you'd better have either a fabulous songwriter, or a fabulous guitarist, or both.
so thanks for dropping a line. i certainly hope you're right, and Sharon becomes the next hot item. she's much better than the Kelly Clarkson crap being promoted right now.
Yo-Sharon is just starting out and doing pretty good for a beginner. She has a great voice, unbelievable passion and is the real deal. She has things to learn about the world of music, but I think doing pretty darn good considering she just started performing in front of large crowds 3 months ago and she only released the CD 3 mos. ago. Let's give this girl a chance and not put her down. She needs to be encouraged for wanting to share music with us.
A Big Sharon Fan
As a long time Little "friend" I am proud of Sharon beyond words. I want you to know though that her family and friends are NOT the ones who leave comments on Amazon or anywhere else. Sharon comes from a large, very hard working family who are busy working and not on Amazon. Sharon and her family are small town, blue collar workers, the real deal, not some American Idol wannabees or any other kind of wannabees. Sharon doesn't wannabee anybody but herself. That girl is as real as it gets. Give the kid a break, pick on someone who deserves it, not Sharon. I've listened to her sing way back when she sang in the church choir and still get goosebumps. Just let her sing and be happy doing it.
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