Jo Carol Pierce

Dog of Love

At 12 years since Jo Carol Pierce’s acclaimed debut, Bad Girls Upset by the Truth, the follow-up, Dog of Love, doesn’t exactly arrive according to Willis Alan Ramsey time, but close. The longtime local, one of the famed Lubbock Mafia, is known for her musical poetry and a bad-girl image, sort of a Patti Smith with West Texas roots, her songs possessing a cabaret air that borrows from the melodramatic side of Tom Waits. Producer Mark Andes, along with David Halley, Blackie White (aka husband Guy Juke), Mike Vernon, and Mary Welch assist Pierce this time with a sound that veers from carnival sideshow (“My Boyfriend”) to searing guitar hooks (“Rock in My Shoe”). Pierce’s scratchy vocals can be a chore, and there are times that her lyrics are a bit simplistic – nowhere near what she’s done before. Still, fans of Texas oddballs will find something to like about this hound.

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This article appears in April 11 • 2008.

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