I’ve just received a very kind review of the new EP, Best Regards. You can read it here or by visiting his website:

http://oliverdiplace.blogspot.com/

Suzi Ragsdale sounds like Suzi Ragsdale. I’m sure she could list off her musical influences if asked, but Ragsdale has found her own voice. Best Regards includes six original songs, and it was hard to pick just one for this post. I chose Wishbone, because I find that I cannot listen to it and sit still at the same time. The song features an arrangement for a full folk-rock band. But I could just as easily have gone with Virginia, arranged for acoustic guitar and strings. Or the title track, for Ragsdale’s piano playing, with bass, acoustic guitar, strings, brass, and woodwinds. Or Two on a Tightrope, with full band and circus effects at the end.

All of this may make it sound like Best Regards is overproduced, and no one would be more bothered by that than me. But Ragsdale is cooking here, and she is in perfect control of her ingredients. She gives each song the arrangement it needs, and nothing is overdone. And her voice is always out front in the mix, with the arrangements complimenting her voice, never competing with it.

Ragsdale sings in an alto voice, which goes from an almost whisper, to a purr, to a clear tone. Again, she knows exactly what each song needs. And she puts over the feeling of each song without ever oversinging.

Ragsdale’s songs are short stories. A good short story should have a tidy plot, a sketch of the character, and a satisfying denouement. And these are good. Wishbone charts the progress of a romance through the changing wishes of its protagonist. Two on a Tightrope also tells of a romance, this time through the metaphor of a tightrope act. And in Virginia, a heartbroken woman gains some much-needed perspective by observing her elderly neighbor at work in her garden.

I hope this review does not sound overly adoring. But this CD just knocked me out. I do however, have one complaint: there are only six songs! I have had word from Ragsdale that she is working on a full-length album. I’m looking forward to it.

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Music by Suzi