Local Music Review: Billy Anne Crews

Songs: The following songs are available to stream on her myspace page:

“Hard Life to Live”: Billy Anne’s deep voice resonates against the soulful steel guitar. Take a swig of whiskey and wallow in your sadness to become the epitome of this songs’ story.
“Taking My Promises”: Ringing, swinging guitars with lyrics like “Taking my promises is like gambling, cause when it’s time to cash in you might get nothing” reminds you that indeed this is country music but without the blame.
“Gasoline”: Half anticipating to hear The Silent Comedy’s Gasoline, this song doesn’t quite live up to that expectation. About fueling her own internal motivation to make it through the week, with a sort of blasé attitude towards life.
“Don’t Want to Settle”: Reaching vocal ranges takes you along a road trip to a saxophone solo? The solo throws the song off slightly, but Billy Anne gets things back on track belting out from her gut.

Overall: Billy Anne Crews is truly a hidden gem in San Diego music, mostly playing the beach coffeehouses and clubs. Her vocals seem reminiscent of the rich notes of Fiona Apple with the country stylings of Lucinda Williams. Her formal music education and love for the genre of art shines through as she crones her heart out.

This review is part of a series on musicians playing at the North Park Festival of Arts in May. Thank you, Lisa B. for booking her on the Beat and Eats Stage.

Albums: Taking My Promises EP (2009) includes the above four songs and can be purchased at iTunes or Amazon.

Calendar: Currently Billy Anne only has a couple shows on her schedule. Perhaps some of my booking peeps will take a look at getting her a few more around town. *Hint, hint*