On The River Road

Album Review

Taking her lyrics from her upstate New York surroundings and her voice from the heavens, Karen Savoca uses her mind, her eyes, and her voice to relate and share the beauties of life. Along with right-hand man Pete Heitzman and Tom "T-Bone" Wolk (Hall and Oates, the Saturday Night Live Band), Savoca uses her chameleonic voice to connect with her music and with all who have the pleasure of hearing it. On what has been called the most important album of the year, Savoca takes the helm, mixing her voice with an astounding array of other instruments that ranges from clavinet to keyboards to conga, from marimba to mandolin, while Heitzman and Wolk provide deep waves of rhythm for her to sail on. The result is a sound that has garnered Musician Magazine's Best Unsigned Band award, an honor that Savoca is none too anxious to shake. Though "Till My Heart" opens much like Hootie and the Blowfish's "Hold My Hand" and despite the Raitt-y blues truck of "This Train," Savoca prefers grass roots to the weeds of big music, and does all she can to keep her sound original and fresh. Touring coffeehouses, clubs, and festivals, sharing her visions with intimate and immediate audiences, Savoca also shuns over-production. In fact, though listeners may swear they hear effects in the mix, aside from a few multi-tracked layers of vocal velvet, the only hyper-produced segment of River Road is a small mysterious break in "Eight Tons of B-flat." Mixing the lyrical folk of "Light a Candle" with the musical bounce of "Lucky Your Mine" and the award-winning "Language of Love" (which may not even be the best song), Karen Savoca and the Mind's Eye create an album that is free and light with a simple beauty that is undeniable.