Christa Joy’s latest CD Get On, Heart is country roots at its finest, tasteful, restrained, and filled with fun, perky little acoustic notes. Joy’s songwriting delves into the human heart and all its mysterious connections to the rest of the world. Nestled inside woven lines of pretty instrumentation, each of her tunes has a special life of its own.
Title track “Get On, Heart” finds this singer-songwriter applying her crisply pretty voice to a lilting melody. A winsome quality ensues from that, and this little dandy sparkles with her joyful vocal and some twangy acoustic notes.
“Didn’t You Turn Out Good” continues the spirited country root vibe. Here, Joy uses several vocal sustains to fineness her lyrical vision. One appreciates the way her vocal melody reaches into neat and cozy places. Her voice sounds beautiful contrasted with lively pedal steel, rippling piano notes, and well timed stick work
Joy‘s voice navigates a lot of fun twists and turns in her tune “You Don‘t Know.” She rides a sprightly lead guitar line as smooth as a Cadillac, two instruments traveling side by side, in different lanes, but in a beautiful sync.
A shuffle groove played on low end carries Joy’s sweet “Honey Bee” along an affectionate path. Her voice eases off into a distance then glides back in, a motion of bright, tender sound that conjures pleasant emotions. There is also a lead guitar that practically whistles the melody in the prettiest way before politely making way for the vocal return.
The catchiest track on this album, “Little Pawn,” brings out a sexy drawl in Joy’s voice. She wraps her voice around a honky tonk chorus, milks it for all the infectious grip its worth. Leading up to those moments is a weave of keys, guitar, and groove that add to the colors of this piece, light, soulful touches of joy.
With a perfectly weepy lead guitar line in the backdrop, Joy’s “On The Shunpike” gets another boost from her tastefully, self-restrained vocal crisp. She puts just enough edge in her timbre to make the feelings in the piece sharper. That edge blends well with acoustic guitar strums and the tune’s purty electric.
“Love Cuts Through” gets a boost from a bulbous bass groove as Joy recounts the early stages of a successful love. Her vocal flows beautifully over a mid tempo cruise of wide organ chords and a wily lead guitar line. Reflecting on something important and real for Joy, she serves it up well to her listener.
“I Knew First Thing” continues the previous theme in a down tempo vibe. Joy shows what a good voice can do when it’s focused over a patient groove. She milks as much emotion out of her lyrics with a torch singer’s soul and a country singer’s natural drawl.
A solo acoustic number, “The Road” lets Joy’s voice bloom amidst the sparse accompaniment. With just a nimbly played guitar, she gives herself a breezy lift, a suspension just above the natural six string sound. Switching briefly to a hum, this singer displays a lot of emotion in just one vocal technique.
With a comfortable rocking chair mid-tempo groove, “You’re Not There” lets Joy spread out her emotive theme. Focused on a family member who is no longer around, this singer-songwriter lets her ballady vocal unfurl. She handles the verses with special sustains and she moves into her inevitable chorus with a ease of vocal flow and a perfect match with where this song is at emotionally.
Close out track “She’s Enough” is another with sparse accompaniment, just Joy and a couple of guitars, and that is one of her best means of expression. Her steady vocal tone and rippling persistent acoustic guitar notes keep this nicely understated. Her voice just travels a smooth lane toward a beautiful ending to her CD with a handful of pleasant notes to leave us something to remember her by, until next time.
Joy has come up with a dandy of a country flavored roots album with Get On, Heart. One can feel the emotive quality of the stories and struggles she sings of. Each song is also wrapped in just enough kernel of notes from acoustic and country flavored electric to make this an endearing work. Lexi Wedge, Amy Acker, Tom LeBeau, Brian Marchese, Matt Wilson, Thomas Erwin, Grant Wicks, Matthew Medeiros, Paul Kochanski, and Michaels staples provide much of the musical grist to support Joy’s stories, and, Grant Wicks at Velvet Elvis Studios gives it all a nice clean sound.
