Shannon Curfman: Loud Guitars, Big Suspicions (Arista)
Shannon Curfman's debut album in 1999, Loud Guitars, Big Suspiciones
is remarkable. Not only because a new female blues and rock star emerges,
but because she was only 13 when she recorded it. Born in North Dakota,
she recently moved to Minneapolis. Shannon Curfman has only been playing
music for three years. Among her heroes are Stevie Wonder, Santana, Prince
and Chaka Khan. Shannon says: "My goal is to be like Sheryl Crow, who is
such a big part of her music - she writes, sings, plays a lot of the instruments,
produces." Curfman sounds like an adult. Her vocal power is not far from
the best in female rock, e.g. Bonnie Raitt's. She plays the guitar and
is also a composer. The best songs on her CD are co-written by Shannon:
No
Riders,
If You Change Your Mind, I Don't Make Promies (I
Can't Break) and
I'm Coming Home. She is not only at ease with
hard, loud or aggressive blues and rock music, Shannon Curfman also knows
to interpret ballads like I Don't Make Promises. Her first single
True
Friends, written by Bruce McCabe is notable, too. There are of course
still limits to her singing, most noticeable in her version of J. R. Robertson's
composition
The Weight written for
The Band (1968 - their
debut single). One also wonders whether she understands all that she is
singing about - her lyrics are clearly not typical for her age. But if
she is able to exploit her talent and to grow artistically, Shannon Curfman
could soon become a multi-talented young superstar - as Prince once was.
She is not just another girlie-star like Britney Spears, only interesting
for teenagers, but already a serious artist.
