Yet another fine performer I’ve recently run across is Texan Christy Clayton whose debut CD Devil’s Paradise is another of my recent favorites. She sings with a cutting, forceful honesty that reminded me of a very young Melissa Etheridge.

Her material is dark, and through the disc she gives us an intimate tour of the “Devil’s Paradise,” including the prostitution and stripper section (“Devil’s Paradise”); the lies and cries area, now serving alcohol (“One More Bottle”). Perhaps the largest section of the Devil’s Paradise is reserved for broken relationships, loneliness and love lost (“See You in the Morning,” “When I’m Gone,” and “Nowhere” which proclaims “since I’m goin’ nowhere with you, I might as well go nowhere alone”). Unlike the tour of the Hotel California, in which we’re reminded “you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave”, this tour ends with the aptly names “The End,” which gives us some hope there might be an escape from the Devil’s Paradise.

“I know a change is taking place, staring us right in the face.

You say ‘Hey, I don’t want to live that way, I’d rather close my eyes and pretend its not the end…

No matter what the faith the message is the same

Its time to open our eyes and our minds, fall on our knees and realize

I know a change is taking place…”

There’s some deep stuff in there, but if you think you can handle it, check out The Devil’s Paradise!