Ellis Paul came late to folk music. It wasn't until late in his college years that he first began to play the guitar. But when he arrived, he brought a powerful and distinctive tenor voice, a keen ear for melody, and a penetrating eye for detail that earned him instant attention in Boston's increasingly folk-saturated music scene. Paul's second album, Am I Home, was recorded when the singer was only 24. The 2000 re-release (the record had never before been available on CD) finds Paul at an early stage of development as a guitarist. He was just beginning to experiment with the alternate tunings that would become a regular feature of his work, and he seems discernibly less sure-fingered in his picking than on later records. His weaknesses are more evident here than on his 1989 debut, Urban Folk Songs, perhaps because on that album Paul was flanked by several other guitarists whereas Am I Home features only two backup strummers. But Paul seems to have matured as a songwriter since the first record. Three of these tracks ("Angel," "Friday Night," and "New Light on Your Halo") were strong enough to be included in his excellent Rounder Records debut, Say Something. Though slightly overlong and overwrought, "This Old Car" and "Am I Home" would have been just as appropriate for the later album, representing the songwriter's first experiments with the distinctive storytelling lyrical style that would dominate future efforts. Ultimately, Am I Home lacks the polish of Say Something and the free-spirited levity of Urban Folk Songs. But it is more than just a revealing early glimpse of one of America's finest contemporary folk singers. It is a fine collection in its own right, worth serious consideration even by casual Ellis Paul fans.
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