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Artist: Tracie Minkoff
Album: 'Acoustic'
CD Review: Label: Independent.
Tracks: 10
Released: 2004
For Fans Of: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, Tracy Chapman
Fav Tracks: All The Time, We'll Never Know

This collection of 10 acoustic songs from Tracie features Chris Amos on guitar.

Tracie's calling card is her voice, which is right up front, telling us her stories of life & love. Her singing is very powerful, resonating from deep within. In fact, her voice seems so consistently strong that I was waiting to hear her back off or style her voice every now and then, which she unfortunately didn't do.

Musically, her playing is strong and Chris's additional guitar is very nice. He adds fullness to the strum and some great picking for interest. In the end, though, the songs themselves lack for a bit of rhythm, and that's what may keep Tracie from being heard on a wider scope. This lack of a solid foundation could be resolved with the introduction of percussion to set the pace and hold it down, freeing Tracie to do what she does best - sing and 'style' with the guitar.

If the voice is what will get Tracie noticed, then what would have us remember her would be stronger songwriting. Although many, many glimpses of interest appear, overall I heard inconsistency and lack of a smooth melody which is the main thing which would keep me from listening to her songs over and over. The melody sounds forced, and thus the rhythms somewhat contrived, without a natural flow ever truly emanating. This is something Tracie needs to resolve within herself, her influences and what she wants to say and how. Again, it just sounds like she's trying very hard, when usually the best things happen when you take a deep breath, relax and let music happen to you.

Tracie has something going, don't get me wrong. She is very interesting to listen to, and not easily forgettable, I just think that she needs to relax into her voice and her songs, and push them somewhere that we're more likely to remember them and want to listen again and again.

Contact: Tracie
Website: Tracie Minkoff