Crooked Path

Star Anna sings with the rough but genuine passion of a young Lucinda Williams on her debut album Crooked Path, a set of songs that splits the difference between the high lonesome heartache of country and the grittier emotional truths of the blues. Anna's voice is strong and expressive, and reveals just enough wear around the edges to suit the tales of hard times and busted hearts that dominate her lyrics. If Crooked Path has a flaw, it's that the performers seem to be holding themselves back, as if Anna, and her band the Laughing Dogs (not to be confused with the New York second-string punk outfit), aren't hitting the music as hard as they could (or should). The more subtle and introspective songs on Crooked Path — "Five Minutes to Midnight," "Wait," and the acoustic "Bed That I Made" — are in many respects the most effective, with Anna and the musicians pulling the emotions out of these tunes without having to turn up the volume. But "Space Beneath the Door," "If Wishes Were Horses," and "The Devil Don't Remember My Name" are numbers that seem to demand a less delicate touch than they're given here. Star Anna's songs show she has the heart and swagger of both a honky tonk angel and a rock & roll outlaw, but the two sides aren't given equal weight here; Crooked Path sounds like it was meant for the coffeehouse rather than the roadhouse, and while she would probably deliver a great show at either venue, she and her band should consider kicking up a little more dust next time they go into the studio.