Rating: NN
There’s no arguing with her MySpace bio. Joanne Mackell does indeed have a voice that could stop a Mack truck, but don’t expect the songs on this self-produced latest offering to venture away from the middle of the road. Swerving around honky-tonk, country and bluegrass, Brand New Lonesome is, in fact, far from brand new – it’s been done to death by countless bar-circuit singers just like Mackell.
Of course, you’re meant to hear singalong tracks like Queen Of Hearts and I Fall In Love propped up on a bar stool, shot of whiskey in hand and an arm around a buddy.
Joanne Mackell plays the Gladstone Saturday (May 17).