If you just judged an album by its cover, you would be mostly wrong about
Judith Edelman
's
Drama Queen
. From the looks of it, you might want to banish her to the land of
singer/songwriters
like
Suzanne Vega
,
Lucy Kaplansky
, or
Dar Williams
-- you know, folksingers with a splash of urban sensibility. Problem is, you'd be wrong. Check the fine print to see that this is a
Compass Records
release and then you'll get on track. For
Edelman
actually sidles up alongside artists like
Nickel Creek
Alison Krauss
, and
Tift Merritt
in the valley that exists somewhere betwixt and between
pop
folk
country
bluegrass
. Though at times
sounds vaguely like
Williams
and/or
Jennifer Kimball
, her slightly twangy, very wispy, lilting voice sails sweetly over mandolins, fiddles, banjos, and acoustic guitars. The earth is certainly not shattered by the artistic contribution
makes to society, but it's far from a bad record. It's more of a background, easy to digest, don't rock the boat sort of listening experience than anything else. And these days, that's actually saying something. ~ Kelly McCartney