Like the great boxer, singer-songwriter Chrissy Flatt stings like a bee. The title track of her overlookked debut has all the pomp and circumstance of a Ben E. King classic and there are flashes of Shirelles-era pop throughout, though she is grounded in traditional Texas storytelling. Flatt’s ethereal singing catapults her songs, written over a period of many years, above the Americana landscape. Sure, there’s plenty of traditional country (witness “Teardrops Falling,” “When Are You Coming Home,”or the rousing “Lifted A Whole Lot of Weight”) befitting an Austin based singer, but Flatt is inspired by strangely ordinary happenings, like discovering a dead moth, and creates wonderful vignettes around everyday events. Flatt’s crackerjack band features country maverick Eric Hisaw (who handles production duties on the album) on electric guitar, Ron Flynt on bass and organ, and Stephen Belans on drums. The album is augmented by other fine players, notably guitarist Scrappy Jud Newcomb, cellist Brian Standefer and up and coming crooner Elizabeth McQueen. Hisaw’s reverb surf guitar makes “I Wish He’d Take Me” a wistful keeper, but Standefer’s haunting cello enhances a good portion of the album, and helps to elevate a simple song like “Guiding Angel” into something otherworldly.
-David Pyndus, POP CULTURE PRESS