Not Much to Crow About: Allison Moorer, 'Crows'

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ALLISON MOORER'S SEVENTH album, "Crows," is a bundle of contradictions.

On these 13 songs, the Alabama native sings in a big, soulful voice that never sounds especially expressive or commanding. She writes capably about specific situations that never quite feel real or immediate. The results are lovely but rarely engaging: a major artistic statement that makes little impact on the listener.

This is especially discouraging because Moorer has spent 12 years making smart, accessible country music that emanated from the head as well as the heart. The sister of singer Shelby Lynne and now the wife of Steve Earle, she made an auspicious debut when her song "A Soft Place to Fall" was included on the "Horse Whisperer" soundtrack and garnered an Academy Award nomination.

In recent years, however, she seems to be floundering creatively, culminating in the regrettable 2008 covers album "Mockingbird," which whitewashed such gritty hits as Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" and Nina Simone's "I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl."

"She reserves the right to be sullen," Moorer sings on "Just Another Fool," describing a girl who doesn't bow to the demands of the men chasing her. "Crows" certainly entertains that indulgence: It's a deeply sullen album full of tastefully written, slickly produced songs about loneliness, memory and loss, yet as surely as Moorer sings about those matters, she rarely conveys the emotions associated with them.

For all its brooding, "Crows" has little payoff.

Moorer borrows liberally from the country and singer-songwriter trends of the 1970s — namely, strings straight out of "Wichita Lineman," a mellow approach to even the darkest of concerns, and a handful of pop flourishes that never intrude on her dusky vocals. At times, "Crows" makes this secondhand sound seem inventive, especially when Moorer layers her vocals into an ethereal chorus on "The Stars & I (Mama's Song)."

More often, however, such accompaniment only enhances the detachment in her delivery. The title track is a heartfelt ode to dismissing your demons, but her piano playing gives it a showtune feel that drains it of any gravity. The minor-key arrangement of "Should I Be Concerned" sounds exaggerated in its forlornness, and its haunted-house piano adds a sheen of melodrama to what should be a straightforward heartbreaker.

"Easy in the Summertime" reminisces over Moorer's youth via a string of unstructured memories that carry surprisingly little weight. It builds to an abrupt epiphany that seems disconnected from the watermelons and frying pans of the first two verses: "The stars come out and glow so bright," she sings wistfully. "That's why I don't mess with morning light, 'cause they're the ones that soothe my soul. They make me wanna rock 'n' roll."

But "Crows" never shows that rock 'n' roll side of Moorer, who plays everything a bit too close to the chest here. She keeps the listener at arm's length, and while such defensiveness can be compelling in ways the artist never devised or intended, here it just makes her sound all the more distant and, worst of all, uninvested in the heartache she's singing about.

Written by Express contributor Stephen M. Deusner
Photo by Angela Kohler