Carrie Rodriguez

She Ain’t Me (Manhattan/Back Porch)

There’s less twang and more pop to Carrie Rodriguez’s second solo effort, She Ain’t Me. Her emerging singer-songwriter talents are airbrushed into a pleasing package with a little of everything but not quite enough. Sophomore albums aren’t the time to experiment when fans want more of what they heard the first time. That said, She Ain’t Me is filled with gorgeous songs framing Rodriguez’s honey voice. Missing here is the red-dirt rootsiness that defined her work with Chip Taylor and the Americana nuances of Seven Angels on a Bicycle. Songs such as “Absence” (co-written with Mary Gauthier), “Mask of Moses” (with Lucinda Williams singing), and “El Dorado” float with confident songwriting, but the production and arrangements are so clean you wish for more textures. Here’s hoping that for Rodriguez’s third venture, she’ll return to earth, ditch the too-fey choruses, and bring her gritty fiddle closer to her marvelous voice.

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This article appears in September 5 • 2008.

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