Allison Moorer

continued

Canny songstress that she is, Moorer twists the knife with the final cut, the creepy little "Dying Breed." With its sinister bass line front and center, Moorer sings with resignation about the inevitability of self-destruction. It's a masterpiece.

You'll probably find Miss Fortune in the country section of your record store, but friends, neighbors, and Ann Arborites, there's good news: it's no longer cool to hate country blindly. Country is not one thing, one music. It's huge and complicated and rich. There's the dross, sure: this is America and dross rules. But behind that resides a host of amazing, inventive artists as distinct as their own fingerprints and steeped in this nation's varied musical history. Allison Moorer is just one of many. She'll be at the Ark on Monday, September 9, more than happy to begin, or continue, your education.   

[Originally published in September, 2002.]