Carrie
Rodriguez Seven Angels on a Bicycle (Train Wreck
Records; August 2006)
When Carrie Rodriguez recently indulged the Sings Like Hell
audience in a handful of compositions from her then pending
Seven Angels on a Bicycle, she more than
held her own against the towering musical presence of Chip
Taylor. That was certainly no small achievement. And in now
perusing the recording in its full and blazing glory, one would
have not expected anything less.
From the bewailing contemplation of “Dirty Leather” to the
rollicking stomp of “Never Gonna Be Your Bride,” Seven Angels
on a Bicycle is a recording of breadth and consequence. As
much as the album flourishes in its considered production and
evocative songwriting, its real worth lays within Rodriguez’s
vocals. In hearing her holler and swoon and inundate us with a
myriad of musical temperaments, it is difficult to believe that it
took a degree of coaxing by Taylor for Rodriguez to step forth to
the microphone. But here she is, fiddle in hand, a book of her own
songs tucked confidently under her arm, and singing like hell all
over again.