First Impressions: Linda Stout's Good Luck Child

I can think of no better way to launch this blogzine than by introducing this fine singing songwriter.

I was quite busy with something at work until from RadioioAcoustic--my favorite Internet radio feed--there streamed the soft, simple, sweetly seductive voice of Linda Stout. She hijacked my attention completely for the next hour, so I got nothing done except for surfing her site and listening to the mp3s posted there.

Linda, a singing songwriter who hails from Ithaca, New York, released her self-produced debut CD, "Good Luck Child", on Ghost Cat Records just over a month ago. It's available from CDBaby, and just as soon as I can get my hands on one (hopefully, her promoter will send this starving singing songwriter/reviewer/freelancer a promo copy), I'm going to write a full review. Until then, I'll give you a couple of my first impressions.

On track 1, "Falling", Linda uses the one-word hook to crochet a warm musical sweater that fits perfectly. The haunting, dreamy, minor riffs are vintage jazz and, while somewhat predictable, lend a soothing familiarity to the tune. I'll bet it's no accident that Linda chose this song over the title cut for the first track. I can't stop listening to it. It's intoxicating; it's addictive; it's one that will be on my playlist for a long time.

I am particularly impressed with Linda's ability to create beautiful, vivid imagery in her lyrics. "Falling" paints a nearly perfect picture of an autumn evening using very few words. In the folksy "Blue Blue Water", the boat, the water, the dolphins, and the gulls create an enchanting picture of a man doing what he enjoys the most with the woman he loves.

I am always surprised and delighted to hear the work of artists like Linda who don't pander to the American Idol-ized pop mentality, whose artistic senses haven't been suborned or violated by cookie-cutter, formulaic songwriting and chest-thumping production. I want to hear the real thing played and sung by real people who love what they are doing.

"I remember the first songs I wrote," she says, "...and could not believe how lucky I was to be able to...make a song where none existed before. It has become more everyday-ish, what with the hard work of editing and re-writing...but I still feel incredibly lucky to get the chance to write songs. And I'm lucky that I like to perform them. I remember these lucky things when life is hard."

Linda Stout is the real thing.