We’ve recently been stumbling upon great, previously unknown (to us) female performers (Jessica Lea Mayfield, Lydia Loveless), and it seems hardly a week goes by that we don’t get hit between the ears by another gal.  That’s all we ask:  one a week.  And it happened again this past week when we got hit by Seattle’s Shelby Earl, who has just released a brand new album entitled “Burn the Boats.” We can provide no better description of Earl’s melodious gestalt than that provided by one of our all-time favorite critics, Ann Powers (currently of NPR):  “Shelby’s [songs] recall legendary genre-busters like Patsy Cline as well as more contemporary artists like Jenny Lewis and Brandi Carlile. Everybody wants to compare her to Neko Case, maybe because of the Northwest connection, but if Neko is bourbon, Shelby is honey wine. Sweeter at first taste, her music is subtly intoxicating.”

The album was produced by the roaringly talented John Roderick (of The Long Winters), and is comprised of a bevy of stellar indie-folk-country-rock originals that much of the time seek to inspire and cajole out of complacency.  In addition to great writing and singing by Earl on the new album, she has notorious Northwest-All-Star backing by members of the Long Winters, Telekinesis, the Head and the Heart, and others.

To get a feel for Shelby Earl check out four songs off of Burn the Boats HERE, and then the videos below from her recent session on KEXP (with perfect horn and string augmentation).  And then go over and buy her album HERE. And do keep an eye on Ms. Earl.