Genre: Country/Blues Year: 2005 Country: USA Official Site: Lauren Ellis Details: Tracks & Audio Label: Silverline
On her second album, singer/songwriter Lauren Ellis delivers a collection of very personal songs, whose themes range from a breakup to her ill mother, a friend who committed suicide and even an instrumental ode to her Hawaiian guitar ("Oahu Song".)
Feels like Family was recorded after she moved from LA to Nashville, which obviously gives you a clearer idea about her sound, which despite its country coloration is rooted in blues — the BB King-type "End Of Our Line" and the Muddy Waters cover "Just to be with you" attest to her influences.
Ellis has a rough but soft voice that perfectly fits her style but even more impressive are her guitar skills, which are the strength on this CD. Whether she plays an energetic acoustic — the opener "Dry As A Bone" which is my favorite tune here — dobro, slide, dirty electric, muted or bluesy, she transcends her instrument and the result always sounds good, except for the jazz-rock "When I see You" that she claimed to have awakened with in the middle of the night, and makes me wish she had stayed asleep.
Because she's a woman playing guitar, we could easily classify her somewhere between Sheryl Crowe and the Dixie Chicks and I must admit that what might lack here is a true unique style as she prefers to quote her heroes and visit different styles, rather than finding her own voice.
Feels like Family is released as a dual CD that you can play in 5.1 in your DVD player for a smoother experience. Each song is accompanied by some notes and a picture — but no videos— and there is also an interview where she mostly covers her creative process.
Lauren Ellis Feels like Family
