Just when you think you have heard all the singer songwriters in the world along comes another one. This time the bus to fame stopped in Massachusetts to pick up Carolyn Walker with her luggage being her current album “Incarnadine”.
As singer songwriters go, Ms. Walker is one of the most earnest, at times seasoning her songs with more than a dash of the devotional, and her delivery is as straightforward you will likely hear. The obligatory introspection colours a few of her songs but, for the most part, she sings outwards from the heart and, thinking in terms of style, she seems more in parallel with sixties folk music than the modern, and altogether more feeble, Americana genre.
Her voice has the necessary gravitas to control a song and is used to best effect in “Voice in My Head” – a song with the legs to walk all the way to Nashville – and “I Don’t Know You Anymore”. The latter song, in particular, is the one that will convince non-believers.
So, whilst distinctly conventional in her approach, there is enough promise to suggest that Carolyn Walker, with a bit of courage, could take that bus from Massachusetts to anywhere she wants to go.
The album is available from Bandcamp.