Corinne West

It doesn’t suck to be Corinne West. She writes great songs, plays with top flight musicians, sports a killer voice and oh yes, has sultry good looks- she could easily be cast as a princess in a “Lord of the Rings"-type movie (hopefully a singing part). The recently released Second Sight is Corinne’s second CD, both of which have been released on her own label, Make Records.

Corinne grew up in Northern California, but caught the wandering bug early on, dropping out of school at 15 to travel with a group of wandering artists and activists in a bus. Her grandfather helped instill a love for music even earlier than this, teaching a young Corinne the two-step in honkeytonks before she was even a teenager. Busking and bands followed the bus trips, but eventually she wanted the freedom of running her own show.

She is joined on the CD by a stellar group. Mike Marshall plays mandolin, Tony Furtado on slide guitar, Darol Anger on fiddle and Jerry Douglas on dobro to name some of them. I don’t own every album Jerry Douglas has played on (who could?), but I can say I’ve liked every album I’ve heard that he is on. If I’m considering a CD and I see his name on it- deal done. I don’t think he would let himself be associated with bad music. For Corinne to get him to play on just her second CD said a lot to me before I even gave the disc a spin.

The CD is a great collection of songs that range from frenetically paced bluegrass tunes to beautiful soft songs such as the closer “Writing on the Wall.” The other side of the Atlantic has already discovered West, and she toured England and Ireland earlier in 2007. She says this trip influenced her writing which is evident in the song “All Good Things,” which definitely has a bit o’ the Irish feel to it. Other highlights of the CD are the opener and title track “Second Sight,” “Diamonds to the Wind” and “Gandy Dancer,” all three of which are uptempo with some great playing, yet Corinne’s voice never sounds strained or rushed. There is not a bad song on the CD. With this much talent and drive, I imagaine Corinne West will be an important artist on the music scene for some time. I hope to be able to review another CD of hers in the future here!