Kelly Willis
Despite her Crystal Gayle vocal throb and Patsy Cline sense of drama, most of Willis's songs would be as much at home in Los Angeles as they would in Austin or Nashville.
Wherever. This second album is a rough-rocking, blues-oozing, romance-defying, blurb-inspiring production if ever there was one.
At 22, Willis brims with energy yet is cynical enough to deal slyly with Joe Ely's tribute to realism, "Settle for Love": "You want drama/ I'll give you drama." She transposes Australian rocker Paul Kelly's "Hidden Things" into something a Virginia gal can handle in madhouse mode too.
Tony Brown produced this album, as he did Willis's debut. It has an admirable precision, and the guitars of Steuart Smith and Richard Bennett keep things melodious as well as rhythmically charged up.
You can drive to this album or dance to it, kick up your heels or just kick back. Whatever angle it's approached from, Willis's music sounds remarkably good. (MCA)
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