The New Kentucky Quarter

The New Kentucky Quarter's next record "Carry It Around" can't come soon enough. Every time I see them the promise of new songs becomes more tantalizing, each with brilliantly realized lyrics and melodies that go straight to your head, not to mention your heart. The title track, a woozily perfect pop song, knowingly questions, "If you dont want it, why would you carry it around?" while the mental images of "the sun burns your shoulders" from another makes it easy to shrug off the last of the winter blues. Even while teasing us with the new, decidedly poppier, unreleased songs, the band made a good case for their first record featuring several songs from the sublimely pretty Simple Things nine songs of gorgeous, whispering Americana. Dancing Shoes may be the sweetest admission of insecurity ever. While The Silver Thread breaks hearts even easier with the line "if tomorrow never comes, at least Ive tasted love." Songwriter, guitarist and lead singer, Ron Walters imbues every song with emotion, while the lovely Abby Zdrale contributes the backing vocals and keyboards that make the songs so memorable. --KiKi's Magical Music Reviews