Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, November 27, 1993 TAG: 9311300086
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: C-12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
Tiny Bar None Records, of Hoboken, N.J., had a major discovery last year with singer-songwriter Freedy Johnston. The winning streak continues with Kate Jacobs' "The Calm Comes After."
Let's quickly get the comparisons out of the way: Jacobs has a wisp of a voice that sounds like a cross between Nanci Griffith and Iris DeMent. On paper, her songs read somewhat like the deadpan snippets of conversation favored by Natalie Merchant.
But let Jacobs describe herself: "I guess I'd say that I sing like a girl, I'm not afraid of country music and I tend to write about home - leaving it and coming back to it," she said recently.
A Virginia native, she now lives in New Jersey. Her great-uncle wrote "When You're Smiling (the Whole World Smiles With You)."
Jacobs sings simple truths without a hint of self-consciousness. She's backed by a three-piece band that's subservient to the songs to the point of anonymity.
"Talk to Me" is a charmer about a romance rekindled when the narrator stopped to appreciate the flowers in her friend's garden: "We were best friends, we had rock bands. We were small town, we had big plans. I pursued them, he forgot them, and I almost forgot him."
On "Easy to Steal," the singer tries to convince someone across the bar that her relationship isn't as idyllic as it seems.
The title song comes when Jacobs contradicts her mother - the calm doesn't come before the storm.
- Associated Press
by CNB