Wendy Colonna

Wendy Colonna

Wendy Colonna's extensively packaged Old, New, Borrowed, & Blue is an ambitious undertaking: two CDs and a DVD recorded live at Antone's. It's also a risky one with a touch of overkill in the DVD, where she's styled like a Mucha nymph, since Colonna is a relative newcomer without the local history that usually accompanies live recordings. Yet the Louisiana native possesses a smoky, alluring voice, and her impressive songwriting dominates the recordings; all but two songs are hers. Colonna chisels her finely faceted gems in "Girls of Stone," "Coffee Today," "Hold Me Tight," and "Thunder" and does so with panache and confidence. It's little coincidence that the title track of her last CD, Right Where I Belong, was picked up by Toni Price on her latest recording, because if it feels like there's a hole in Austin's musical psyche left by Price's departure, Wendy Colonna is the one most likely to fill it.