Call It My Garden
is Austin-based troubadour
Carrie Elkin
's third album, but it's her first for stalwart folk label
Red House
, and hopefully it will help to spread the world to a larger audience about the sweet, subtle pleasures of
Elkin
's work. You can't walk a block in Austin without tripping over a gaggle of Americana-based singer/songwriters, and rising up from the mediocrity that kind of mass entails isn't easy; on
,
manages it as much through her easy, organic-sounding vocal delivery as anything else. There's a distinct country tinge to
's singing, but it's as much an Appalachian air as a Nashville twang -- it's easy to imagine her falling into a convincing yodel (though she doesn't). And the casual grace of
's tone and phrasing are ideal for the rootsy sound that is her stylistic home base.
's songs themselves are well served by her folk/country croon, too -- she deftly avoids cliches throughout the album's ten self-penned tracks, and even manages to breathe some life into
"Iowa,"
a
Dar Williams
tune that sounded too precious in its author's own hands. It comes as no surprise to learn that
was recorded live at the home of
's fellow songsmith
Sam Baker
(who is also apparently the subject of the album's
"Dear Sam"
) -- there's a warm, homemade, analog feel to these tracks; they breathe audibly, putting the listener right there in the room with
and her accompanists. And in the end, that's pretty much what you want on an album like this, isn't it? ~ J. Allen