Much like Mark Olson, Megan McCormick brings something completely different to the singer/songwriter/folk table. Embracing the electric blues as much as an acoustic guitar this lightning rod of a songwriter sort of teeters the line between the two genres. Think of McCormick as a tight-rope walker of the highest order. She sort of wavers on either side and really can't make up her mind what she wants to be more of...a blues musician or a singer/songwriter. My personal feeling is that she needs to get deep in touch with her soul and just chuck it in to the blues end of things.
Her album, Honest Words, is a fine work of bluesy folk rock that might remind you of someone like Melissa Etheridge more than anyone else around. Her intonation, her slightly lovelorn lyrics, her guitar playing, they all sound right up Etheridge's alley. Throughout Honest Words, McCormick does a heck of a job of wringing every last note out of her voice and her guitar and she's truly at her best when she's aloud to just go. Truth be told, Honest Words is the sort of singer songwriter album more artists of the genre should be making. This is so much more than a lone singer yelping away...McCormick lets her guitar yelp like BB King's best friend and she just happens to be along for the ride.
McCormick is clearly most successful when she's bumped up by her energetic playing. See the ridiculous guitar work of the hyper kinetic, "Addiction." This tune is a radio friendly unit-shifter if there ever one was and has the word HIT stamped all over it. Unfortunately, when she slows things down and lapses in to folky mode things get a bit too monotonous for their own good. Chalk it up to my healthy dislike for that kind of stuff, but I just have a hard time sorting through that quagmire.
For the most part, though, Honest Wordsis a pretty decent record and if given half the chance I would love to just hear Megan McCormick go off on a god guitar solo blues rock album. Judging by her work here, that's a force of nature just waiting to happen. I for one am hoping it does. In the meantime if you like your singer songwriters with a bit of oomph, Megan McCormick is going to be your new best friend.
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