August 19, 2010

Sahara Smith: Myth of the Heart

Sahara Smith
photo: Eric Valind

Sahara Smith from Wimberley, TX, has all the trappings of becoming the next big thing in folk and alt.country. Voice, songs and looks - it's a full package. T Bone Burnett oversaw the procedures during the recording in his Los Angeles studio of her Myth of the Heart album. And she delivered.

With a clear and soulful voice she eases through the songs like a seasoned veteran. She has been compared with Emmylou Harris and Lucinda Williams, but it makes more sense to file her under the likes of Caroline Herring and Kathryn Williams, below the radar singers who go their own way no matter what. Let's hope that Smith doesn't get caught up in heaps of well meant advice to sweeten her sound - that way lies madness (and possible lawsuits - Train Man sounds an awful lot like Chris Isaac's Blue Hotel).

Thousand Secrets and The Real Thing are tailor made for long drives. With the up-beat Are You Lonely and the slow lament World's On Fire (a stryrofoam angel isn't likely to be much help), she has added two songs to the Great American Book of Folk Music. At 21, that's quite an accomplishment.

Sahara Smith: Myth of the Heart

Myth of the Heart is released on Playing In Traffic Records. Release date: August 31.

Tracks:
  1. Thousand Secrets Wide
  2. Are You Lonely
  3. Train Man
  4. Tin Man Town
  5. The Real Thing
  6. Angel
  7. All I Need
  8. World's On Fire
  9. Myth Of The Heart
  10. Midnight Plane
  11. Mermaid
  12. Twilight Red

Live dates:
  • 09/08 Austin, TX @ Waterloo Records (In-Store Performance)
  • 09/09 Austin, TX @ Shady Grove
  • 09/15 Brooklyn, NY @ Union Hall
  • 09/16 New York, NY @ Living Room
  • 09/17 Philadelphia, PA @WXPN Live at Noon/World Café Session
  • 09/18 Boston, MA @ Toad
  • 09/23 Fort Worth, TX @ 8.0 Bar
  • 09/29 Austin, TX @ Antone's w/ Raul Malo
  • 10/02 Houston, TX @ House Of Blues (Bronze Peacock Room)
  • 10/05 Kansas City, MO @ Knockelhead's w/ Raul Malo
  • 10/06 St. Louis, MO @ Old Rock House w/ Raul Malo
  • 10/08 Austin, TX @ Austin City Limits Festival
  • 10/28 Austin, TX @ Cactus Café

» myspace.com/saharasmithmusic

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