Sonya Cotton - Red River (2009)

Sonya Cotton’s voice is so rich that it can swing high and low, easily covering several octaves, never sounding thin or tinny. I would love to hear this instrument applied to a few songs with traditional song structures–songs with a verse, a chorus and then a bridge. Her songs, though, are more like folktales–long and windy, full of vivid woodsy imagery, rife with wolves, bears and mythic lands by the sea. There is nothing wrong with a good folktale, and there is not much wrong with this album, except that it may leave listeners wanting to hear this stunning voice applied to just one or two songs with melodies they can remember and choruses they can sing along to.