Chris O'Brien, self titled E.P. -Apt.4 (The Robes Music 2002)
Richard Thorne, Undercover Overachiever EP (Own release 2000)
Amberjack Rice, New Roots (Own Release 2002)

A week or two ago I was reading in a well-known U.K folk magazine how one or two particular celebrities of the folk world had pet hates in folk music, or to be more precise, folk clubs. One of these expressed annoyance at having to sit through endless verses of a song 'some egotistical singer' had written. He is also irritated when singers are forced to read the music or lyrics from a piece of paper. To me this begs the question, why doesn't he take up stamp collecting if folk music makes him so bloody miserable?

All too often singer-songwriters are a strange breed. They all have these wonderful words and music in their heads, but for some of them, to their frustration, the good Lord didn't bless them with the ability to perform it, or at least not as it should be performed. It's a bit like handwriting; my father's brother had the most beautiful copperplate style handwriting. He wasn't an overly brilliant man academically, but he was blessed with this gift. Thankfully the singer-songwriters reviewed here do have the gift, and what a gift it is! The performers here are three individuals who have completely different styles and outlooks on their music.

First up is Chris O'Brien with self titled E.P. -Apt.4 an EP of 5 songs that are performed very simply; just Chris and his guitar. Chris is what I term as a very profound style of singer who puts a lot of emotion in his voice. His songs are all about 'love' in some form or other. Not what you might call story songs but songs which deal more with human emotions. If I tell you this you can well imagine what you are going to hear with song titles like 'Hey Love', 'Lay Me Down', 'After the Storm', 'Gemini' and the subtitle track for the EP, 'Apt.4'. A love lost song, I thought it probably the best on the album. Chris sits very much on the fringe of folk and pop music. I can envisage the songs being played by a rock band and given a heavier treatment. Perhaps this is what Chris is after, and if he was heading a band he would probably make it into the charts with a vengeance.

Next is Richard Thorne's Undercover Overachiever, again an EP with 5 songs. Richard has guest musicians Richard Doll on bass, Todd Eastland on drums and Bob Hofnar on pedal steel guitar. Richard heads the band on acoustic guitar and vocals and demonstrates his ability to write songs that don't all sound the same, a trap some writers tend to fall into. 'Honey's Back in Town,' the first song, comes out as lightweight easy listening pop. The next song, 'The Cross and the Shield,' has shades of what Richard Thompson might put out. 'It All Comes Back to You' has a firm country rock feel to it with the pedal steel guitar. Just to vary it a bit more track 4 will remind the older readers of Buddy Holly and the Crickets with 'Yesterday's Princess' I thought this and the last track ' Undercover Overachiever' the best on the album. This was an interesting album with some songs on it that other singers or bands might want to have a look at with a view to covering them in their own style.

Last up is an album from Amberjack Rice, New Roots. It might be true to say that nobody sleeps when Amberjack Rice is on stage. Rice is a singer from Austin, Texas, but originally of Knoxville, Tennessee, and he puts a lot of energy in his songs. They have that rare Southern country rawness that makes you sit up and listen. This is the fourth album from Amberjack Rice, and the album gets off to a rip roaring start with 'Little Northeast', 'What I Deserve' and 'Big Fire Breathing Horse' which have a full band treatment. At track 4 is a change of mood and sound with Rice just singing with a resonator guitar. Another change of mood at track 5 with the song 'Slow Children at Play,' a song written around what I think is a road traffic sign? (Editor's note: For our world readers, yes, here in the U.S. many neighborhoods post such signs. The unfortunate lack of punctuation is often amusing to those of us with a sarcastic bent...)

A change of gear again with the song 'Guess That You're Still Not (Over Me)' leads to an old-time Bluegrass sounding song 'I'm Sorry Lord'. The sleeve notes curiously say it was formally known as The Smelly Bottom Boys! Hmmm - I wonder! They have a great sense of humour in Texas. After an up-tempo '99 Bottles of Beer' and melancholy 'The Other Side of the Bottle' - so the album continues with four other songs. The last song at track 14 'People Asking,' which I thought should have been one of the best songs, seemed to end much to soon and sounded unfinished at 1 minute 20 seconds.

So there you have it, three different performers who write their own songs. Who is doing it right? Who is the best of them? The answer is all three. Maybe these guys will never be international top line performers, but without these completely different styles of music adding to the melange of what we have already, the future of folk music as a genre might be looking a bit thin. Shooting the songwriter may not be the best idea.