CHECK OUT SINGER-SONGWRITER CARRIE NEWCOMER’S NEWEST RECORD-SEE HER IN LA MARCH 12

Inga Swearingen
First Rain
Rhythome Records
www.ingaswearingen.com

Carrie Newcomer
Before & After
Rounder Records
www.rounder.com
By George W. Harris

Whatever happened to that lost artist called “singer/songwriter”? Back
in the 70s and 80s, you could throw a rock across Sunset Blvd, and hit
at least two that would be walking the streets, peddling their wares.
Nowadays, with the addiction to the Great (old) American Songbook, it’s
easier to find a rabbi in a shrimp cannery!Here are a couple of
releases by folksy ladies that take the genre with different colors of
the prism…

Inga Swearingen has put out a couple of releases out before this one,
which includes first rate artists like Larry Koonse/g, Darek Oles/b and
Brian Kilgore/dr along with other LA cats. Her soft voice gives balmy
and mellow readings of standards like “Heart And Soul” and “Skylark”
while hitting the Boomers with “Blackbird.” Her own tunes are gentle
drops of rain, custom made for a day in the park in the rain; most
convincing emotionally is her stark take of Oles’ “Before The Journey”
and her reading of her native Swedish melody “Visa Fran Jarna.”
Charming and unassuming.

So, with almost the same instrumentation, why does Carrie Newcomer’s
Before And After seem to connect more viscerally? Well, where one
simply sings songs, Newcomer actually has stories to tell, and she
tells them like she means them. Coming from a Quaker background, she
sounds like she really knows about forgiveness, love, redemption and
all of the marks of a spiritual pilgrim. Her chestnut voice is
convincing in its depiction of the simple things in life that are
actually all important, as on “I Wish I May…” or the real problems and
solutions of life, as sung on “A Simple Change Of Heart.” Her writing
is as strong and penetrating as a daily devotional, but she’s not
afraid of a good laugh, as she delivers a classic on “A Crash Of
Rhinoceros.” As homespun as the weekly Farmer’s Market, and as poignant
as a Sunday Sermon. She’s going to be touring this spring (McCabes on
March 12 www.Mccabes.com)-make sure you see her. Wow.