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Thursday, September 25, 2008

CD Review: Corinne Gooden - All My Days


Corinne Gooden - All My Days
2008, Corinne Gooden


Born in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Corinne Gooden grew up surrounded by natural beauty. As a young singer/songwriter and producer, some of that beauty has woven its way into her songwriting. Gooden's 2008 debut, All My Days is a lushly orchestrated yet understated beauty.

Corinne Gooden's earliest musical heroes were bands like Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and The Allman Brothers. Over time she developed for some of the finest singer-songwriters of the 1970s and 1980s (James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Patti Griffin, etc). It was these later influences that have helped inspire and inform her songwriting. All My Days is full of intimate story songs that rely as much on the patchwork narratives as on the verdant orchestrations.

All My Days opens with You've Got Me, a radio-ready track if I've ever heard one. It's also a great introduction to Corinne Gooden's voice which is full and deep in a way you might not expect. It's a beautiful voice that I could picture just as easily handling blues, jazz or soul in addition to pop/rock. All My Days (title track) is a wistful look at loss. Anything At All is so full of palpable longing it will leave you breathless, and Come This Far marks the fall from grace of a relationship once held dear.

Other highlights include the gorgeous Leaving A Life, the upbeat Goodbye and the fall afternoon sunshine of 17th Street. And don't miss the last song, Last Chance (In the Moonlight). This stripped down number goes with a basic finger-picking style to provide texture and rhythm as a counterpart to Gooden's voice. It may be best musical afterthought you'll hear this year.

Corinne Gooden is going to be compared to artists such as Patti Griffin and Joan Baez. Her voice is an incredibly distinctive and beautiful deep alto. It will shock you with deep textures not unlike a late season red wine and you'll never forget it once you've heard her. All My Days is a shockingly good debut as it displays song craft and maturity well beyond Gooden's age or experience. She is a consummate story teller and a talented composer. This is a must own disc, and I would say it's just the beginning for Corinne Gooden.

Rating: 4.5 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Corinne Gooden at http://www.corinnegooden.com/. You can purchase a copy of All My Days directly through her website or at www.cdbaby.com/cd/corinnegooden.

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