Jodi Ann - Black Tears

Hear The Track Here

Despite my initial misgivings about Soundclick's change of style a while back, I must admit I have found a couple of those improvements very useful. The element I had most trepidation about was the whole 'friends' thing so prevelant on social networking sites. When Soundclick introduced that I did groan a bit but have since found it a great source of new people and new - dare I say this - friends. That's how I met Jodi Ann. OK, let me 'fess up. Y'all know I am a sucker for a pretty face, so it's useless to deny it, so when she asked me to listen to Black Tears how could I deny her?. I mean, look at that smile.

Harumph, harumph, back to business...

There is an air about her image and Soundclick page too that brings you to suspect that Jodi Ann is a serious lady about her music and even the merest of listens to this track will show you an artist who is comfortable in what she is doing. It's that professional edge that piqued my curiousity enough to pursue it for review and I was pleasantly surprised to see that Black Tears was billed as Bluegrass, a country favourite of mine. Black Tears is, obviously, aimed at the American country market - and that isn't normally a genre I like. In fact, there are some elements about 'Nashville' C&W that should have been strangled in the studio, all IMHO of course. The showbizzy side of this particular genre has its real stars (Dolly Parton being one of my own picks for that honour) but a lot more non-entities playing music so vacuous it makes me want to hurl.

I mentioned Dolly because the comparisons are obvious. No matter what I feel about Jodi Ann's music it would be filtered through that viewpoint. And Dolly is some big shoes to fill. Songs are what this is all about right enough, but it is also about doing with authority and conviction. On all counts, Black Tears delivers exactly what you would expect, showing that Jodi Ann knows exactly what she wants musically and gets it. Soundclick has a very vibrant and extensive country community, many of which I notice have posted comments on the track. All to the good because when you find something this good on Soundclick, you have to spread the word. Black Tears is a terrific song and well worth a listen even if country music is not normally your thing.

Go on, dare to be different. Highly Recommended commercial country (with a message)