Shawn Colvin Cover Girl CD

Personnel: Shawn Colvin (vocals, acoustic guitar); Mary-Chapin Carpenter, Milt Grayson (vocals); Steve Addabbo (12-string guitar); Steuart Smith (acoustic & electric guitars, slide guitar, Ferrington high-string & baritone guitars, mandolin, keyboards, bass); Larry Campbell (pedal steel guitar, fiddle); T-Bone Wolk (accordion, bass); Benmont Tench (Hammond B-3 organ); David Kahne (keyboards, bass, programming); Lee Sklar, Larry Klein (bass); Frank Vilardi, Kenny Aronoff (drums, percussion); Jim Keltner, Andy Kravitz (drums); Kenny White, Curtis King, Frank Floyd, Fonzie Thornton (background vocals).
Producers: David Kahne, Shawn Colvin, Steuart Smith.
Engineers include: Julie Last, Steve Addabbo, Ray Martin.
Recorded at Shatter Island Sound, Sony Music Studios, and live at the Bottom Line, New York; Sony Music Studios, Los Angeles, California. Includes liner notes by Shawn Colvin.
COVER GIRL was nominated for Best Contemporary Folk Album in the 37th Annual Grammy Awards.
Personnel: Shawn Colvin (vocals, guitar, acoustic guitar); Mary Chapin Carpenter (vocals); Steuart Smith (guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, slide guitar, mandolin, keyboards); Steve Addabbo (12-string guitar); Larry Campbell (steel guitar, fiddle); T-Bone Wolk (accordion); David Kahne (keyboards, programming); Kenny Aronoff, Frank Vilardi (drums, percussion); Jim Keltner, Andy Kravitz (drums); Curtis King, Fonzi Thornton, Ken White, Kenny White, Milt Grayson, Frank Floyd (background vocals).
Audio Mixers: David Kahne; David Leonard; Michael Brauer; Steve Addabbo.
When Shawn Colvin first turned up playing Greenwich Village folk clubs in the early 1980s, she used to perform a variety of cover songs, often taking rock recordings and re-imagining them for her girl-with-guitar format. When Colvin began recording in the late '80s, however, she concentrated on her own original material. Cover Girl brings her interpretive abilities back into focus. Songs like the Police's "Every Little Thing [He] Does Is Magic" and Talking Heads' "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)" are the most radical reworkings here, but not the best, perhaps because they depend on their original productions. Colvin is more successful in choosing classic but not well-known songs already in the folk idiom -- Greg Brown's "One Cool Remove," Willis Alan Ramsey's "Satin Sheets," and Rolly Solley's "Killing the Blues." A fan from the old Village days can only lament that she didn't choose to include her version of Dire Straits' "Romeo and Juliet." ~ William Ruhlmann
It's a sure bet that if you enjoy Shawn Colvin's breathy, yet gymnastic vocals and like to listen to obscure folk-rock songs, COVER GIRL is the album for you. Shawn has recorded a dozen of her favorites--from the slickly produced version of The Police's "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic," to W.A. Ramsey's rare find, "Satin Sheets"--in a live acoustic setting.
Standouts include her dramatic interpretation of Greg Brown's "One Cool Remove" (with help from Mary-Chapin Carpenter) and Judee Sills' folk nugget, "There's A Rugged Road." She gives a deliberate, tempered reading of the Talking Heads' inventively wild "This Must be The Place," and an enthusiastic take on Dylan's classic "You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go." Also included are songs by Robbie Robertson, Steve Earle, Jimmy Webb and Tom Waits. Yet with all those heavyweight songwriters represented, the unlikely highlight is by a relative unknown, Roly Salley, whose "Killing The Blues" is incisively and starkly interpreted during a powerhouse performance from New York's Bottom Line.
COVER GIRL is not only a good listen, it is an interesting insight into the ingredients that created an artist like Colvin.Q (9/94, p.98) - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...a sensitive interpreter of folk, country and rock..."