Natalia Zukerman

continued

Zukerman's last CD, though a studio recording, had the feel of a live album. It was just her voice and solo guitar — "no overdubs, no do-overs," as she wrote in the liner notes. The sound was intimate, introspective, and cozy. Her new one, Brand New Frame, which she will unveil at her CD release concert at the Ark on Friday, April 18, is her first with producer and guitar slinger Willy Porter. Here, backed by a full band, she shows she can also rock exuberantly. In the title song she sings, "Same old picture in a brand new frame,/And they unveiled it just last week and no one came. Shame./But no one's listening and no one cares."

Though she's been on the singer-songwriter screen for only four years, no way is that an apt description of her music, or of her audiences' reactions to her performances. During her set at the Ann Arbor

Folk Festival in January, someone shouted from Hill Auditorium's balcony, "You're phenomenal!" It is an assessment more and more people are likely to come to share. Zukerman's music commands your attention and affection.

[Review published April 2008]