Doug Hoekstra: Make Me Believe (Roundtower)
This album has been living with me for a few weeks, steadily seducing with its whispered intimacies, quiet intelligence and carefully constructed left-field melodies. On the surface this Chicago-born Nashville-based country-folkie could be accused of trying too hard; these songs come from oblique angles, criss-cross genres and are curdled with shimmering slide guitar and plaintive harmonica. But at their heart is a series of juicy melodies which, combined with his distinctive handle on the world, create a series of rich intriguing story songs such as the challenging Kirkwood Hotel and the haunting My Father's Town. Hoekstra clearly has rock'n'roll inclinations though it is soul music and its ability to transcend the mundane which inspires the superb Sam Cooke Sings the Gospel, from which the title of this compelling and distinctive collection is taken.
Gretchen Peters: Gretchen Peters (Grapevine)
Gretchen Peters slips into this collection with a slinky atmospheric piece, Souvenirs, which is redolent of a more upright Rickie Lee Jones. And the comparisons don't end there. While Peters has her eyes firmly fixed on the mainstream, her wistful and quirky writing frequently brings to mind early Rickie Lee. Peters's songs are certainly less bohemian in tenor; she aims for that mature modern country market where Wynonna and Trisha Yearwood (for whom she has written) hold sway. And as someone who has co-written an album with Canadian rock-throb Bryan Adams (he makes a guest appearance) she can rock out, as on Love is a Drug, but generally her best moments are more considered tracks such as Love and Texaco and Revival. Her voice is sweetly pitched, if a little mannered, and the arrangements are subtle and effective (even using brass), but this impressive collection lacks that something special to set it apart.