Artist:     Liz Frame and The Kickers

Album:     Sparrow In A Shoebox

Label:     OPT Records

Release Date:     6.18.18 

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Sometimes kicking off an album with the title track can be risky. A sharp salesperson usually likes to hold back on their “snake in the bag” to seal the deal and save it for the closer. Liz Frame strikes me as a person who has rolled the dice more than once. It’s all throughout her “life is what happens while you’re making other plans” lyrics. She quickly proves that for as strong a tune as her opener is, with its memorable melody, perfect feel, and to-the-point chorus, “Like A Sparrow In A Shoebox, Waiting To Fly, Like an arrow it will shoot through a clear blue sky,” that she has a whole lot more arrows in her quiver, ready to deliver straight to the heart.

Deliver she does with every song, that have melodies that are painfully beautiful and serve the lyrics that get pretty ugly often. Combine that with a strong assist from her Kickers and a few extra players brought in to add just what each song needs to fully live up to its potential. For example, “I Used To Be Your Slave” could be a bluegrass standard, but instead of that high lonesome driving sound, it has a full bodied driving sound, thanks to Liz’s voice, lots of big clear bass and locked-in great-feeling drums, topped off with an organ perfectly padding behind the mandolin. So perfect, I would roll the dice that even Bill Monroe would salute Ms. Frame on this one. “Little Brown House” brought to mind a 1940s Edward G. Robinson suspense movie, The Red House, about escaping from a domestic prison nightmare. “She’s Made Of Light and Love” starts off sounding like a Hank Sr three-chords-and-the-truth number, but gets mugged in Montgomery, with a haunting sound twist to the third chord that elevates it and yet still stays truly rooted. This woman writes great songs and has the pipes to deliver them, along with super strong production instincts. Several could certainly be hits for other artists.

The Kickers live up to their name throughout, but really get to rock out on the last three tracks, ones that just keep building, until they wrap it up with “I Don’t Worry No More.” The whole album has the feel of a memorable concert performance. Would you believe, like that lucky old sun, they will be here in Nashville next week ? Will I be there? As sure as my name is

— Ken Spooner