Up and
Comers: Two of the best among the festival's bumper crop
of largely unknown but upwardly mobile female singer songwriters
will play this afternoon. It's difficult to imagine Steve Earle's
sister sounding as feminine as Stacey Earle in fact does but
neither would he ever admit to all the crying she does on her
notable debut "Simple Gearle" (Gearle Records). Hokey
affectations aside (Depression, clothes,needle static) Earle
delivers strong, straightforward, consistently rhythmic songs
with the discipline you would expect from a former Nashville
staff write.
Virginia's
Terri Allard shares Earle's sense of craft and rhythmic drive,
but delivers a fuller, more commercial sound on "Loose
Change and Spare Parts" (Reckless Abandon). She's Mary
Chapin Carpenter to Earle's Nanci Griffith. Catch them both
on their upward curves.
