Annie Keating from Brooklyn only started getting serious about her music at the age of 32 after the birth of her daughter. Since then, she has been pretty prolific and this her fifth album.
Not surprising, her songs take a mature, reflective view on life. All are her own work, apart from the closing track, a languid cover of Neil Young's Cowgirl In The Sand.
Her music falls into the category of easy listening Americana apart from the sore thumb of Let It Come; an ill advised experiment with funky rap.
Keating sings and plays acoustic guitar on all tracks, and piano on one (the wistful River Clyde). Of the backing musicians, the contributions of Jon Graboff on pedal steel and Trina Hamlin on harmonica stand out.
Storm Warming is a strident opening track but her tunes are solid and easy on the ear without being particularly memorable.
Although there's a hint of a feisty independence on Leap Of Faith ("I'm my own new invention, don't need your consent"), it's only on All Gone that she sings with the kind of bitter sweet edge that makes Lucinda Williams' break up songs so effective.
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On this song, Keating runs through a catalogue of the things she doesn't need her man for, including money, sweet talk and flowers as she laments "I thought that we had something but it added up to nothing".
More in this vein would have made for a more dynamic album. As it is, too many of the tracks such as Just For Today,
Take Only What You Can Carry and Thrill of The Chase give the impression that they began life as song titles rather than being fired by strong emotions.
Annie Keating's website
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