Published on May 13, 1999
Something tells me that Toni Price learned something from
labelmate Candye Kane.
Price’s last effort, the live
Sol Power, showed an artist who seemed to champion acoustic
country with both touches of blues and twang in the music. Around
the same time, on Kane’s
Diva La Grande, Price and Kane duetted on a twangy version
of Nancy Sinatra’s “These Boots Are Made For Walkin'”.
Now, on Price’s latest studio effort
Low Down And Up, a lot of the country twang is gone (or at
least is hidden very well), and has been replaced with a sound
that’s almost lounge-like in tone – not unlike Kane’s sound. It’s a
change that takes a long time to get used to, and it’s not the
easiest disc to sit through. But once you’re able to get through
it, Price proves to hold her own quite well in this department.
The actual sound of this disc is incredibly soft – so soft, in
fact, that I found it almost impossible to concentrate on it if I
were doing something else. It took me about seven attempted listens
to get through this whole disc once; that’s the kind of investment
of time I don’t think many listeners will have to invest, much less
be willing to.
Once you’ve broken past this first barrier, Price shows that she
seems to know what she’s doing with this stylistic move. Tracks
like “Foolin’ Around,” “Don’t You Think I Feel It To?”, “Remember
Me?” and “Lonesome Wind” all show that her vocal power isn’t
diminished just because the volume knob has been turned down a
notch or two.
Yet there’s still a part of me that misses the gentle hillbilly
style of her music – and I use the term “hillbilly” in a positive
way. The music I heard on
Sol Power suggested that Price had tapped into a more rural
form of country-folk that isn’t often heard in the marketplace, and
while it was a sound that needed time to grow on the listener, it
was a pleasant experience overall. Not that
Low Down And Up is a negative experience, but it sometimes
feels like Price has purposely stepped away from those country-folk
roots. The closest I heard her come, on tracks like “Out The Front
Door,” sounded a lot like Bonnie Raitt.
Still, Price’s switch to a smoother sound could be the key to
winning a broader fan base. Tracks like “Rusty Old Red River” and
“Loserville Blues” are sure to increase interest in her, and it
wouldn’t be unjustified.
Price might no longer be the country balladeer that people grew
to know on
Sol Power, but she shows on
Low Down And Up that she is still a force to be dealt with
in the music industry.