thedarkages | Wailin' Jennys

I first became aware of this Canadian group when I saw them on Garrison Keillor's Great Performances show from Tanglewood early this summer. Their single "One Voice" was really well done -- clean a cappella voices, nice lines, nice ornamentation from the guitar and mandolin in the last verse. But I just got their album "Firecracker," and it's a bit disappointing. The songs are much more conventional -- they could be from any folky country band with vocals, and that puts a spotlight on the songwriting, which just isn't that compelling by itself. There's one track with just vocals, but it's really no more than a sop to their old sound. Give this album a pass, and try their earlier one, "40 Days."