Baltimore OUTLoud
Don’t miss Saving Graces (tanyapluth.com) by Tanya Pluth. The dozen tracks rock (Inside Out), sway (Go On, Be Kind), swing (Traveling Home), step lively (Hard Place), swoon (Don’t Leave Here So Broken), and stand up for what’s right (Would You Try), and they do it all with grace.
Indie In-Tune Magazine
By: Kathryn Vercillo
Were you a fan of Dar Williams before your friends knew who she was? Did your love of Ani ebb and flow with her changes and eventually end up with her comfortably familiar play-list on your mp3 player? When you think of your old favorite singers, does your list include Tracy Chapman and Melissa Ferrick? Then turn your eyes to Tanya Pluth, because she's got a sound which brings new energy to the same old scene which you already love. Filled with country's heart, folk's lyrics and attention to the issues facing women (and everyone) in the world today, Pluth sings her soul with open-mic style attitude and the kind of forthright honesty which the female singer-songwriter genre loves to love.
Pluth's lyrics are filled with references to nature which make you want to put on your hiking shoes and lay your cheek against the earth. You don't doubt her when she sings that she'd like to make traveling her home, and you can almost feel "sun shining right through skin" as her voice shines its brilliance in your direction.
But Pluth's attention to the world extends beyond the details of nature and plucks at the strings of modern issues facing the world today. She is one of those singers that hints at the political but makes it personal, encouraging kindness and honesty and living in tune with your beliefs. Next time you update those play-lists, you can add her on to the list of "women who rock".
Saving Graces - Tanya Pluth (Uber, self-released)Talk about discouraging - Pluth’s CD was literally lost when tracks were unrecoverable when it came time to mix, and backups done at the Portland, Oregon studio were on computers that had been stolen.
Uber Records stood in to help Pluth with what she called a giant do-over, and the resulting folk-alt.country album with echoes of Mary-Chapin Carpenter got to live and to make #1 on the Outvoice Top 40 chart.
There are songs of adversity(particularly “Would You Try”), seeking (“A Little Brighter,” “Traveling Home”), and hope through it all (“Well As You Will”). Songs of coming out (“Inside Out,” “Would You Try”) get their message across without the heaviness of crusading.
If your tastes tend toward folky message songs,
go to www.tanyapluth.com to obtain this disc.