I’m a bit afraid for Amber Rubarth. I’m afraid of what the industry will do to her. The problem is she’s good, really good. Her songs are great (as evidence of her win at Mountain Stage NewSong competition) and the music is high quality (she can play guitar and has access to top studio players). The problem is she’s also beautiful (and marketable) and I’m worried they will try to make her into a folkier version of Norah Jones. Instead she should have a long prolific, creative career like Joan Baez, Dar Williams, or Shawn Colvin.
Here’s what we’ve got in our favor. Radio is done, kaput. Television is a wasteland of big voiced starlets covering other artists songs on the myriad of competition shows out there. The internet is so vast no one can get a foothold or any significant traction. So even if they wanted to try cram this down our throats they wouldn’t be able to. Plus her music and songs are too clever to be crazy popular. This isn’t Sheryl Crow we’re talking about but more like Lisa Loeb or Jill Sobule.
I love the first line of this song and how it’s delivered. The instrumentation is rich and the production is polished (a little too rich and too polished for me but that’s another story). The theme of acting on your feelings and not waiting `til it’s too late is something we’ve heard before but this time it’s wrapped in such an appealing package and with a couple interesting turn of phrases that it just works.
Pre-order the new record A Common Case of Disappearing out on NewSong Recordings here.
Bonus live track