Katy Hudson
Katy Hudson
Reviewed by Earl Campbell
Nashville tried their best to snuff out Katy's spirit. They slicked her up and over-produced her. They got too cute. They tried too hard, like that annoying kid we all feel sorry for, but still can't stand to be around for extended periods of time. They meant well, sure, but don't the most iron-fisted dictators always seem to start out as social reformers? But they failed. They could not gloss over, not cage, not spin Katy Hudson. Her heart finds every crack in the plaster, and pours through it, beaming out her blues, her love, her confliction - enforced with the deep voice of a WOMAN that somehow comes out of a girl, that somehow communicates beyond her age and even her intentions. While Katy's unique combination of Broadway, rock, and pop on this CD can be wonderfully dynamic and unique, I can't help but yearn to hear her in a more natural context. I would love to see how her songs would come out amidst the minimalism that they at times seem to beg for. Would we feel the progenistic fury of a Shannon Curfman or the grayness of a Shannon Stephens? I think we would get something somewhere in between, and beyond that. I hope that is a question that will be answered someday. For now, we have a record that, granted, has some songs left in ruins by a production death ray. But certainly enough of them survived to allow Katy her due, and to allow the listener a connection and a sense of worth.