Reviews for Linda McRae

Don't let the cute cherub on the front cover fool ya 'cause Linda's slicin' up some of the blowziest country blooze music you'll hear in a tune's age. The wall of sound sonics are so thick you'll want to devour it with a fork--but use a spoon instead because you'll want to get every drop. Mmm mmm good!

“Tell me Hank, what was it like in your day?” Not much different from McRae’s new album by the sounds of it..Since departing from Canadian folk rock outfit, “Spirit of the West”, Vancouver-based Linda McRae has been gathering accolades for creating songs as near as darn it to Old Time Country gurus Hank Williams, Peggy Lee and other artists of that ilk and calibre.

My AKGs pound “This Winding Road”, the lead track on Linda McRae's latest album Carve it to the Heart and I'm whisked away to find myself somewhere else with my feet kicked up, swaying in my rocker as the moonshine kisses the rim of my blue tin cup. The stars are out and faintly in the distance I can hear horses rustling in the stables.

Linda McRae’s show at the Ironwood will likely be one of her last gigs around here for some time.
For almost 20 years, since the days when she doubled on bass and accordion in Spirit of the West, McRae has been a fixture on the Western Canadian roots scene and a lightning rod when it came to collaborating and organizing events in Vancouver.

When talking about depression-erainspired country, there’s usually a few failsafe terms freely bandied about the subject: ‘lazy midsummer days porch jams,’ ‘last call saloon music,’ ‘murder balladry,’ ‘torch song country,’ ‘hurtin’ music,’ and the like. Thing is, with Linda McRae’s third solo effort, these are more truisms than clichés.

Linda McRae’s Carve It To The Heart comes off like a dusty, reverential tribute to country music’s vast and varied back catalogue. The third solo album from the former Spirit of the West accordionist goes further in the direction of homage than McRae’s two previous solo albums, both of which were fine discs that proved McCrae’s worth as a songwriter in her own right.

Carve It to the Heart's not just a CD title–it's a job description. Long-time local stalwart Linda McRae's keen, cutting voice is a surgical instrument, and here she slices through 50 years of country corn to arrive at a sound that would sit nicely with anything Hank Williams ever did.

“Melodies so old they seem new” is both a line from the title track and fine description of the new release from Linda McRae. Recorded on Vancouver’s Black Hen label, Carve It to the Heart features (with one exception), all original material written or co-written by McRae.

The genre we now call “Americana” was born in the ‘90s to sate the hunger many Americans felt for authenticity. There were already several genres catering to this same hunger, but they were off-putting to the people who would ultimately become Americana fans—baby boomers, hipsters, Northeastern urbanites, and liberals.

'Ladies Nights' in-house Neugebauer! Gleich vier aktuelle Alben mit weiblichen Stimmen liegen derzeit auf meinem Schreibtisch, und da ist wahrlich keine schlechte dabei. Four current albums with female voices are currently on my desk, and there is no truly bad there. Zwei der Damen stammen aus Kanada und haben recht ähnliche Bios. Two of the women are from Canada and have fairly similar Bios.

It is clear from the opening track of Canadian Country/Folk vet Linda McRae’s third album that we are indeed in for a ‘Winding Road’. Pop/rock fans beware, because it is exactly what it seems. The album is unabashedly old-style country, railroad ballads of lost love and missed chances.

On her third album since leaving Spirit of the West, Linda McRae applies relatively modern, occasionally rock-tinged, arrangements to fine original songs steeped in bluegrass and old-time country traditions. In other words, this is the kind of record that mainstream Nashville would be making if it still knew how to creatively update the traditions at the heart of country music.

Carve It to the Heart is Linda McRae's third solo album and the followup to her critically acclaimed 2002 release Cryin' Out Loud.

Emmet Matheson, No Depression, US Roots Magazine - The way McRae delivers the hard-knock facts of life smacks more of deliverance from, rather than resignation to, disappointment. Hoot and Holler is as close as alt-country gets to Peggy Lee. McRae's warmly powerful voice is the bedrock of this album.