ERIN BODE

The Little Garden

2008-12-05

St. Louis based Erin Bode's third release continues her journey from interpreter to songwriter. Her debut contained all covers as she modeled Eva Cassidy, an early influence; her second set contained a bunch of originals along with covers of Paul Simon and Mick Hucknall. This time, it's all Erin and/or her piano playing compatriot Adam Maness -- except for another Paul Simon song, "Born at the Right Time," which she does very, very well. She starts out strong with two fine compositions, "New England Friends" and "Chasing after You" -- and then pretty much keeps up the quality throughout. You can argue that this is NOT a jazz release, especially on the gently paced title track, but Bode and her band grew up steeped in the genre and those rhythms seem to be the basis for most of what's happening here. "Genre boundaries are being blurred these days," she says, and certainly at this station we applaud the creativity. 12/08 J-Contemporary (Vocal) Michael J.

Quick Links:

• Erin's homepage