Female singer/songwriters became visible long before the '90s (
Joan Baez,
Judy Collins,
Joni Mitchell and
Janis Ian were stars before
Alanis Morissette was even born), but they became especially plentiful during the
Bill Clinton years. There were many of them back in the '60s and '70s, but their numbers really soared through the roof in the '90s and 2000s. And today's female singer/songwriters run the gamut, ranging from angry (
Ani DiFranco) to artsy and eccentric (
Tori Amos) to waifish (
Jewel). On her first full-length album,
Downside Up,
Alison Ray favors the more commercial and radio-friendly side of the singer/songwriter spectrum. This 39-minute disc (which was produced by
Marc Tanner, with mixing by
Chris Lord-Alge) has some of
Melissa Etheridge and
Sheryl Crow's rootsiness, but minus the huskiness of
Etheridge's voice and without any of the cryptic humor that
Crow is great at providing -- and
Downside Up's abundance of Top 40 pop gloss brings to mind names like
Shania Twain and
Kelly Clarkson.
Ray isn't as daring as some of the women in the singer/songwriter world, but while
Downside Up may not push the envelope a great deal, there is no getting around the fact that
Ray's radio-friendly material (some of which
Tanner co-wrote with the Memphis native turned Los Angeles resident) is generally infectious, hooky and likable.
Downside Up has its melancholy moments -- most notably, "DLS (Dirty Little Secret)" and "There's Always Tomorrow." But ultimately, this is an optimistic album -- not naïve, but optimistic -- and even when
Ray expresses some angst, she doesn't spend a lot of time wallowing in it.
Downside Up won't go down in history as the most challenging adult alternative release of 2006, but it's an enjoyable, satisfying example of the singer/songwriter world's Top 40-minded side. ~ Alex Henderson