I bought this CD after seeing Casey Chambers in concert. Never heard of her before. I bought all three of her current CD's at once. Now I can just add on, when she releases her new CD later this year.

Aussie twanger Kasey Chambers put out a fine debut in THE CAPTAIN. On this one, she occasionally allows more breathing room for the guitars and dances closer to the rock end of the country-rock equation. Her voice is still the same marvelous childlike instrument (think Julie Miller) but she ups the songwriting a tad this time out. There are more tunes that lodge themselves insistently than with the first effort.

HIGHLIGHTS:
The disc kicks off with the brassy title tune, a declaration of intent as Kasey snarls "Iron bars and big ole cars/Won't run me out of town/I'll be d**ned if you're not my man/Before the sun goes down." She follows that up with the meek "Not Pretty Enough" leaving you to wonder which one is the "real" Kasey. Perhaps it's both..you get another dose of melancholy in "On a Bad Day" (Chambers' pal and backer Lucinda Williams guests on harmony) but on weeper "Little Bit Lonesome" (Chambers channeling Hank Sr.?) and "If I Were You" Chambers again insists that if her lovers don't "get" her, it's their problem. ("I'm only half of what you see...") "Crossfire" is an edgy rocker with Kasey this time playing the runaround romeo ("If you don't hate me, you'll learn to/I thought I had it clear from the start/I don't have a heart...") Perhaps the strongest track is the visceral "Ignorance" (hidden after track 13), as Chambers recoils from the world's evils. ("If you're not pissed off at the world/Then you're just not paying attention")

LOWS:
No real clunkers this time out, though "Runaway Train" sounds like a knockoff of the title track. She didn't really bring anything new to the Gram Parsons cover either. ("Still Feeling Blue")

BOTTOM LINE:
If you like alt country or Julie Miller, this is highly recommended. If you love traditional country (Loretta Lynn, George Jones, Johnny Cash) and you're looking for something new that "sounds old", you'd be well advised to give this one a listen.

if you come across this cd in a record store (as i did), you may find a sticker affixed to its plastic wrapper, a sticker that features glowing commentary, indeed, veritable praises for young ms. chambers from both lucinda & mr. earle. apparently, both of these fine musicians were drunk (or something) when they listened to ms. chambers' music (or played with her, as lucinda does on 1 cut on this cd); they are not to be believed at any cost! i made the mistake of buying this stinker of an album based on their kind words; the store that i sold it back to subsequently this past january (and i tried giving it a while, a few listens first) still has it in their used bin. 'nuff said...