[From The Providence Phoenix, 1995]
Barbara Kessler: Stranger To This Land (Eastern Front 12-song CD)
Figures that as soon as I'm done cranking Beantown I hear a great live set (Dirt Merchants... more later) and the next day get this remarkable CD by Boston 'burber Kessler. Her apearances on various compilations---the most recent being Christine Lavin's excellent folk comp Follow That Road---have never disappointed, and on her own she shines. The music could be considered countrified folk, but like all aural labels, its mear mention is unnecessarily limiting. Kessler's a star on the rise, and any accolades will rightly mention her powerful songwriting. She won't boom-pow you with emotional thuggery in the vein of Iris Dement or even Liz Phair, but her strength lies in understatement and a blessed aversion to preaching, which has oft taken the feet out from under an otherwise sharp falling-in-and-out-of-love song. Her characters are decidedly unspecial, but brought to vivid life by Kessler's spot-on storytelling ability. Indeed, she zeroes in on emotions that absolutely everyone has had---growing apart from a childhood friend, taking time to relax, going on a nervous date with one eye peering back at your shoulder at the last one, taking a mesmerizing peek into the male sports-fan psyche---and personalizes them. Many try, but few succeed like Kessler. Maybe it's because she doesn't offer excuses for the "bad" thoughts within and doesn't push an emotionally-correct this-is-how-it-is agenda, either. It's refreshing and accessible, a bit like Shawn Colvin when that talented balladeer's hittin' on all eight. In that regard, Kessler's disc is that rare instance when uobtrusive certainly does not equal unsubstantial. She's touring the country now, but will be here for shows in Bristol on March 10 and at RISD a month later. Check her out....