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Samantha Crain: Kid Face

Ramseur

Rising Americana/folk artist Samantha Crain wears her heart on her sleeve on this achingly beautiful album that reveals a freshly autobiographical side of her songwriting, weaving intricately poignant and often jagged tales of love, loneliness and desperation about growing up a Choctaw Indian in Oklahoma. With a voice channeling classic folk artists and R&B stars alike, Crain’s nuanced vocals—from deep, wind-swept whispers and back-porch scowls to twangy pop—carry songs on distinctive journeys. There’s a persistent dark edge to the music that continually shifts between buoyant and bubbly to haunting and bare while exuding a mysterious streak as if for all the lyrical honesty, there’s still something she’s not telling us. Even after proclaiming that she’ll “always tell the truth” on “Taught To Lie,” the inherent questions force listeners, in true folk tradition, to dig for the deeper reality within the songs. A dark trip at times, but inside, the lights are on.