Album Review – Eliza Thorn’s “Somebody New”
#573 and #510.1 (Country blues, classic country) on the Country DDS.
Eliza Thorn offers a super tasty, diverse, enriching, and involved album for her official debut that shows off a wide array of influences and talents across a spectrum of roots music, fulfilling the appetite of the audience, and stoking interest in this young performer and her unique sound.
Similar to other fast-rising country and roots musicians of our era such as Charley Crockett, Sierra Farrell, and Melissa Carper, Eliza Thorn is slightly less interested in “genre,” and more attune to how “era” can help define how her songs unfold, using a wide array of sounds to capture the ideal mood for each one of her original tunes.
Saving Country Music was first introduced to Eliza Thorn at a tribute event for Luke Bell where she referred to herself as a blues artist. Since the blues are so integral to most every other form of American music—including country—this isn’t as limiting as it may sound. With producer Mose Wilson, Eliza explores the thru line of the blues across country, vintage R&B, and even a little jazz, while invoking the 40s and 50s era when these genres didn’t feel so stratified.
What really defines the music of Eliza Thorn is her soulful and robust exhalations that are unmistakably bluesy, even when expended on straightforward classic country. The title track of the album “Somebody New” is an excellent showcase of the blues side of Eliza as a shade-throwing kiss-off. Then on “Nobody But You,” the old school country vibes come on strong, including an impressive yodel from Eliza.
On the song “I Tried,” Thorn shows off both her blues and country side in the same song, illustrating the seamlessness of her sound, and how her sultry delivery works across a host of disciplines while staying within expressions that are authentic to herself.
There are so many textures and intricacies to Thorn’s singing, it intrigues the audience and gives them something to explore further on subsequent listens. Similarly, producer Mose Wilson’s instrumental selections are interesting and anything but commonplace, adding clarinet, chorus singers, and percussive layers in distinct spots to make it a full-bodied listening experience. Care and love was shown to these tracks.
And most importantly, you can’t sing the blues unless you’ve lived them. The songs of Eliza Thorn speak to love pursued and love lost, following a young woman from being smitten to crestfallen, and all the seasons in between, rendered in language that is timelessly relevant, but careful to not be anachronistic or dissonant from the vintage sounds that comprise this album.
At nine songs and 26 minutes, Somebody New feels more like a starting point as opposed to a culmination for this artist now living in Nashville. But you already see the buzz building, and the respect her fellow performers and local promoters have for her. With the way she captures emotions in songs and a sound that is surging in appeal at the moment, it’s hard to not say that the future for Eliza Thorn seems bright.
8/10
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Purchase from Eliza Thorn
September 27, 2024 @ 2:30 pm
Being a Melissa Carper fan, I definitely hear some Melissa Carper style vibes in these two songs, the overall musical production, and Eliza’s vocals. Good stuff!
September 27, 2024 @ 5:45 pm
Didn’t know where else to post this as I don’t do social media and I know you don’t have time to review every album Trigger, but somehow Billy outdid himself. Highway Prayers dropped today and is AOTY by a long shot. 10/10 just throwing it out there!
September 28, 2024 @ 12:32 pm
Some vibey moments for sure but no substance to the songs and the voice sounds forced.. Vibey fluffy Instagram tik tok fodder. Her website saying she’s hailing from the “north country” makes me wonder where she got that fake accent in some of her songs…northerners can sing country music for sure but do they have to pretend they’re from Texas in the 1950s or whatever?
September 29, 2024 @ 5:56 am
Don’t know her full history, but I believe she was staying in North Carolina before the move to Nashville a short time ago. I’ve only visited North Carolina from my home here in South Carolina a few times, but I seemed to hear a lot of people with southern accents. Not sure if that’s southern enough to make Americana music though.
September 29, 2024 @ 6:34 am
I’m hearing a very robust delivery, but not hearing a “Southern” accent. I could hear these vocal coming from Motown just as much as Muscle Shoals. As a Texan, I’m certainly not hearing a Texas accent.
It may not be to your taste, but no reason to accuse anyone of appropriation. She’s singing in a vintage, throwback style, which is her evocation of influences.
September 29, 2024 @ 3:30 pm
I agree its not a Wanda Jackson imitation. But she’s definitely throwing in the pseudo- Harlem Billie Holliday ,sassy , jazzy vibe. That’s what I hear anyway. That’s what I think Trig is hearing and why he mentions Blues. I’m just not certain it’s right for vintage Country. She could try her hand at blues music, I suppose, but it’s such a niche scene these days and there’s truckloads of brilliant female blues singers out there that popular culture ignores.
At the moment, you can take this gals voice, put her in the East Nashville scene, throw some flashy 1960s inspired cowgirl duds on, do a few photo shoots at Eastside Bowl, Urban Cowboy, or any number of retro- hipster Nashville haunts, go into a studio, get Chris Scruggs, and a handful of other vintage style pickers, put Mose at the helm, and voila…instant cred. Uber- cool vintage cowgirl chic. This thing is a trend for sure. I dunno if it’s sustainable, or even an honest way to build a lasting legacy. It feels like a trendy move for the moment, but 10 years from now?
I know…grumpy take. Is she talented? Undeniably. And I get why some like it. Agree, that Melissa Carper did this first, and I gave her some praise in other articles.
September 29, 2024 @ 9:48 pm
I met Eliza Thorn at Luke Bell’s memorial in Nashville in 2022. She introduced herself as a blues singer, and even then was doing everything she could to craft a career in music. This album is presented as “country blues.”
Once again, I appreciate if people do not like her voice or style. That’s a matter of taste. What I don’t appreciate is the insinuation that this is some full-blown put-on produced slapdash out of whole cloth as opposed to an artist at the very ground level of her career trying to get her name out there with a 9-song debut that has crafted a unique sound for herself.
Time was that this is what people came to Saving Country Music for, to find these artists in the rough before they blew up. I did this exact thing for Sierra Ferrell back in 2019, and we saw the same negative reaction to her. It was all about how her voice was fake, and she had a nose ring.
I’m not saying Eliza Thorn is going to be the next Sierra Ferrell, but all performers start somewhere. And often where they start is Saving Country Music.
September 30, 2024 @ 6:37 am
I get your point Trig.
Eliza Thorn is talented. In fact I acknowledged that. The Blues music world is a tough one to navigate and super hard to make a living in. I personally know a lot of blues artists with stacks of albums and impressive resumes, yet they have day jobs to survive. The problem is there are just so many folks out there recording blues music, it’s very hard to be heard. The other problem, is that the current blues scene takes little interest in the more vintage acts. A perfect example is a band I love and have written about called The Hi- Jivers. They are a blues trio steeped in Howlin Wolf sound, fronted by a killer female vocalist. You would have seen them at Ameripolitan where they won a Rockabilly award. They are not a rockabilly band, but they are kinda lumped into it as the blues scene kinda ignored them. They had a multi year gig at BB Kings Blues Club but got criticized for sounding too old-timey. Another example is a band I wrote about called Laurie Jane and The 45s, out of Louisville. Killer, female fronted blues band that I cannot say enough good about. Yet they all have day jobs to survive, and the music takes a back seat in their lives unfortunately. Limited market and audience for what they do, in their geographic region.
My take on Eliza was admittedly harsh. I do see a retro trend in Nashville with vintage looking and sounding time capsule country artists, and I actually enjoy many of them, but find myself questioning if long term it’s a viable path. I understand that Sierra Ferrell has proven it can be done. And I’ve done a 180 on her over the last couple years. I was negative on her
at first, but I finally started seeing the genius in her artistry. So, I’m wrong at times and willing to admit it.
I’d consider seeing Eliza live if I had the opportunity. I get that it’s a passion project with her, and that’s cool. Point noted.
September 28, 2024 @ 11:38 pm
Do you have to pretend you’re Wanda Jackson?
September 29, 2024 @ 6:37 am
Well, she’d need to be performing Rockabilly to do this, completely change her lyrical approach to the kind of songs Wanda sings/sang, as well as institute the growl that was so integral to Wanda’s voice. Did Wanda sing with a Southern accent? Because that’s what others are complaining about.
Saying you don’t like a singer is totally understandable. Accusing them of appropriation or mimicry is not. Nothing about this reminds me of Wanda Jackson.
September 29, 2024 @ 5:29 pm
My comment was a snap retort to someone who accused the singer of “pretending that they’re from Texas in the 1950s”–and signed it “Wanda Jackson.”
It was a joke. Sheesh.
[Maybe the problem is that replies often get posted some distance from the comment that they’re reacting to.]
September 29, 2024 @ 9:37 pm
You could have responded to that comment directly, and then your response would have made more sense. If I didn’t get the joke, I apologize. But if I didn’t get it, it’s likely others didn’t either.
I appreciate if folks don’t like this woman’s voice, or style. But too often these comments sections turn into a slag pit for people to smear people who they don’t like or blow off steam from their day.
This isn’t a budding starlet on a major label looking to jump on the next Kenny Chesney tour. This is a ground level artist looking for any crumb of attention, and too often this comments section brutalizes these artists, especially women. And it’s not the commenters that have to answer for it, it’s me when I’m out in public, and constantly hear people say, “For the love of God, close your comments section. It’s embarrassing.”
September 29, 2024 @ 11:30 pm
I meant to–and thought I did–respond to that comment directly. Could be, I didn’t. As I noted, it appeared quite a distance below it, so the connection was missed.
The comment section on this board is fine You want embarassing, go to a site like Mediaite. It’s degenerated to the point where half the comments are along the lines of “Trump wears Depends” or “Biden wears Depends”–depending on the political party or leanings of the poster. “The Hill” had to eliminiate their comments because they were just as bad.
September 29, 2024 @ 5:50 am
Thanks Trigger for reviewing this. I’d seen Eliza pop up in the posts of other artists and followed her thinking she may eventually develop. I’m really enjoying this album and think the Melissa Carper comparison, style not voice, is a good comparison. Nice variety of styles and fun to listen to. Mose Wilson has done a great job of production with this and Hanna Juanita’s albums without the big label dollars.
Hope people give Eliza Thorn a try.
October 3, 2024 @ 7:08 pm
Thanks for the review.
I think she’s a big talent and hope she finds a strong audience for her music.