Women of Country - The Internet's #1 Guide to Female Country Music

Album Review

Rebecca Lynn Howard - Rebecca Lynn Howard
MCA Records

Rebecca Lynn Howard has been the talk of the country music industry for awhile now. It also took forever for this album to get here. The new trend seems to be to delay album releases through a number of singles searching for that ideal release while a hit single is out on the airwaves. Labels have also been known to cancel albums when the singles didn't perform well. This is cruel and unfair to the artists and thankfully MCA Records kept Rebecca Lynn Howard on board even though her singles haven't done much as of yet. With that said it might have been a good idea to give Howard a little bit more time to work on this flawed debut.

Rebecca Lynn Howard has an incredibly powerful voice. In fact, there are times during this album where she uses it a little bit to much and the songs take on an irritating tone. That kind of feel you get when someone has been yelling at you for too long. A perfect example is in "I Don't Paint Myself Into Corners". This song is a truly stunning pure country ballad but towards the end of the tune when Howard decides to really let her voice wail you're left cringing for the note to be over. It's not even a flaw in her voice. It's actually that she was blessed with such an incredibly flawless and powerful set of pipes that when she doesn't control them the results can be damaging to the song.

When her vocals are kept under control the end result is some real winners. The single "Out Here In The Water" is a fun, flirty tune and deserved to be a much bigger hit than it has been to date. The same can be said for the heavily pop influenced "When My Dreams Come True". Howard seems to excel on these lighthearted, upbeat numbers. "Heartsounds" is a great tune that suffers from a little bit of overproduction and a little bit of over singing but it still works in the end.

"Melancholy Blue" is a heartbreaking song and I wouldn't be surprised to see it become a single. The album jumps back to the pop flavored side of things with "You're Real", which displays Howard's impressive vocal range in a more favorable light.

Rebecca Lynn Howard has a sparkling voice and is one of the more promising new talents to release an album in a while. Give her another album or two and her style will develop fully and hopefully she'll learn that sometimes an understated vocal performance is just as effective as an eardrum shattering one. If those two objectives can be met then you can mark my words, you'll be hearing a lot from Howard. As an album, this self-titled debut is not an earthshaking effort but it's a decent introduction to Howard's incredible talent.

The WOC Rating Scale

The album stands above the rest. This is a record that every country music fan needs to have in their collection.

This album is better than the average release. A strong record with some flaws that keep it from reaching that 5 star level.

This album is an average country release. Doesn't posses qualities that make it stand out among all the other albums out there.

A weak record that lacks solid songs or good vocal performances. Sample before you buy.

This record is a bargin-bin reject that just isn't worth the time or the money. Completely misses the mark.