Annie Brobst’s debut full length CD My First Rodeo is sure to garner greater attention for her in her adopted home region of New England. On every track her personality shines through in her pure voice and her cracker jack band bat it out of the ballpark. There is an easefulness in her singing and some rhythmic grooves that could lasso her some fans in the Country Top 40 crowd while her band mates and guest musicians press out a lot of nitty, gritty flavor to hoard in some fans of old time country. Through it all, this here album is lots of fun to listen and dance to.
Opening track “Before I Leave” bops in with a galloping groove, a tender fiddle line, and Brobst’s beautifully rangy vocal. One can picture sunlight shining off this singer as she expresses herself with such a bright timbre and such a warm personal approach. She sends her vocal out over the music like a lasso and pulls the listener back toward her. Beneath her strong vocal presence her band plays as tight as heck with crack timing, making it difficult to imagine any other combo being able to support the beaming light above.
“Still Water” gets a country flavor from a Steve Latanision pedal steel line and a brittle electric guitar line. While the music, especially a lively fiddle, makes us picture life out on the range or on a farm, Brobst pours her smooth, sunny vocal over the country grits sizzle with an approach as smooth as syrup over pancakes. Her voice contrasts perfectly and beautifully with the country flintiness. This makes each quality in the song stand out and get noticed even more.
“Love You More” is a quirky, clever tune. Brobst expresses herself with a clipped pace, letting out small bits of whispery vocal, then restarting with quick force. This makes her tune extra catchy as snappy drum work spanks this number forward. It is easy to imagine this song cracking the Country Top 40. Not that it’s commercialized but because it’s got a snap, crackle, and pop in all facets of its delivery.
“Change Of Heart” sails in with a moody fiddle line played by Eva Walsh and Brobst’s considerately mellow vocal. Her voice makes the listener’s ears perk up with her crisp delivery as she moseys through a landscape of down tempo, down home acoustic guitar, banjo, and other acoustic instruments. The grit emanating from her band mates adept picking and bowing give her voice a perfect launching pad. Tasteful acoustic guitar picking here adds a lot of soul to this country flavored work. Her vocal assertions soar over a mountaintop of sound, especially her sustains, to arrive at a place of true beauty and art. Her whispery lines are pretty as heck too, and when she goes into her chorus, her shiny voice grows high and wide, a voice that can take her far.
Ending a relationship was never so much fun when Brobst and company kick things up with the assertive, infectious “We Were Breakin’ Up.” A briskly paced vocal finds just the right places to land in this well punctuated tune. There is a pretty perkiness in Brobst’s voice as she carries the song through its twisty groove. Her band gives every measure something snappy. They also coat this dandy with a mock sadness in the pedal steel and fiddle, as the couple in the song are never really quite sure where they’re at.
The forlorn melody of “Ghost” makes one feel Brobst’s longing for a larger city and a larger life than where she came from. Leaving behind who she was makes her feel like a ghost, and the bittersweet tenderness comes across perfectly in Brobst’s vocal delivery. Singing in a sweet, girlish timbre makes the listener feel her vulnerability in her new world. Her use of backing vocals on her chorus makes us feel it even more as she drapes her longing with a coat of sorrow. A dash of pedal steel and a touch of fiddle contribute to the emotive texture and that really puts the listener into the center of the song’s interpersonal drama.
The most assertive song on this album, “Whiskey Colors,” has a slappy groove over which fiddle and electric guitar jumps vigorously up and down on, in true rhythmic punctuation. Brobst has a lot of fun with this one, quickly delivering her descriptive lyrics amidst a thumpy groove and a tuft of instruments keeping it sweet and down home.
“What’s A Girl Gotta Do” offers a lot of good elements. Its slight honky tonk vibe combines with an element of country ballad. Brobst straddles both qualities by finessing her plaintive words with a quiet, somber vocal, making a sad feeling alluring by keeping her lines full of emotion, the quiet desperation that she sings of becomes a shared universal experience because of her earthy approach.
Brobst and her boys get a country shuffle beat going on for “You Either Love Me Or You Don’t.” Her perky vocal delivery sparkles with a girlish purr. She has a lot of fun and so does the listener when she asserts herself at the microphone with her bold ultimatum. Rocking piano from Chris “Gooch” Bloniarz, a greasy country guitar line from Ryan Dupont, and an irresistible groove beneath it all combine to make this a potential dance hall hit.
“The Teacher” stands out for its honest emotive qualities. Brobst sings her heart out listpng her trials and tribulations. Her purity of voice and purity of feeling keeps this one fresh. A gritty banjo, a lonesome fiddle played by Michael Bean, and a purposeful groove combine to form a tuft of music that reaches the heart as much as Brobst and her lyrics she sings. Hearing those nuggets of notes from her band mates percolating alongside her voice make this another treat for the ears.
Slappy, country flavored chords and riffs pave the way for Brobst to strut her jaunty delivery on “Paper Weight.” Buttressed by feisty acoustic guitar, banjo, and other acoustic instruments, she jumps out of the gate at a galloping pace. She erupts into a larger, wider expression on the chorus. This makes her song pull the listener in even deeper to hear how she and the band do their thing. The chorus leads to a instrumental hoedown, and the song closes out even stronger with Brobst strutting with sustains and other nuances in her crooning.
Closing track “Best Worst Idea” lets Brobst showcase what she can do in a sparse, quiet, down tempo piece. Her voice is truly beautiful as she fills in a lot of space around an acoustic guitar played by Brian Alex. One can hear subtle shifts in her delivery that make this song a perky little joy to follow.
Brobst has come up with a strong debut full length with this disc recorded by Sean McLaughlin at 37‘ Productions in Rockland, Massachusetts and partly recorded by Anthony J. Resta in Los Angeles and mastered by Jeff Lipton at Peerless Mastering. Brobst reveals a lot of talent in her voice and her songwriting. Her backing band too is an 18 wheeler size truck load of talent. Considering all of the inroads Brobst has made into the music scene these last few years, My First Rodeo will make one hell of a calling card for furthering her audience.
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