Leave Your Shoes

Album Review

Singer/songwriter Beth Whitney has a voice that sometimes threatens to get lost within her own songs, but that's also part of her charm — there's an honesty and emotional simplicity in her debut album, Leave Your Shoes, that sounds so natural that when her instrument threatens to sink below the surface of her own guitar or the bass of her musical partner, Aaron Fishburn, it just feels like her music is following the emotional peaks and valleys that dominate her lyrics. What Whitney's voice lacks in strength it makes up for in eloquence, and the post-adolescent introspection of "Miss Misery," the lightly sassy romance of "Tapioca," and the mingled sorrow and admiration of "Grandma Francis" are all made flesh and blood in these performances. Leave Your Shoes doesn't attempt to disguise the delicacy of Whitney's performing style, instead matching her music with appropriately subtle accompaniment (often just her acoustic guitar), and this allows the music to speak for itself on its own terms. Whitney doesn't always come off as a seasoned performer on these 11 songs (nine originals and two traditional folk numbers), but she never sounds less than authentic and thoroughly herself, and the freshness and sense of self-discovery that ring through these songs make the case that Whitney is a genuine talent to watch. She's already a gifted songwriter and with a bit more confidence and experience under her belt, she has the makings of a compelling new voice in contemporary folk.