Audra Mae & the Almighty Sound

This Oklahoma City-born firecracker has already assembled an interesting list of credits in her short career, from touring with Hot Water Music's Chuck Ragan to singing Bob Dylan's "Forever Young" for TV show Sons Of Anarchy and even having Susan Boyle record one of her songs. This 11-track release is Audra Mae's first with her new band of heathens after her solo debut, The Happiest Lamb, presented her as a moody jazz-folk chanteuse. She's put that on the shelf for now in favour of a more suitable badass chick image, and it's interesting that she sought out Nashville veteran Deana Carter as a chief collaborator to make that switch. But the album's overall sound owes almost as much to the aggro-folk of KT Tunstall (remember her?) as any of the new breed of Nashville women looking to provide an edgy alternative to Taylor Swift. That's not to say Audra Mae is bereft of subtlety; she proves that on the gorgeous "Old Italian Love Song." There's also a fair amount of Adele's smokiness in her voice, even though, at times, it's buried under too much reverb. Still, Audra Mae & the Almighty Sound is a powerful birth wail of an artist with all the tools to shake up the country rock status quo.