█████████████████████████████████████████████████ ░ ▓▓ ██████████████████████████████████████████████████ ░ ▒▒ ████████████████████████████████████████████ ░ ▒▓ █████████████████████████████████████████ ░▒ ▒▒ ░██████████████████████████████████████▒▒▓ ▓ ███████████████████████████████████████ ▒░ ████████████████████████████████████ █ ██████████████████████████████████▒ █ ▓█████████████████████████████████ ▒ ████████████████████████████████ ▒▒ ▒██████████████████████████████ ▒█ █████████████████████████████ ▒█▓▒ ████████████████████████████ ░██░ ░█░ ███████████████████████████ ████ ██████████████████████████▒ ▓████ █████████████████████████▓ █████░ █████████████████████████▓ ██████░ ████████████████████████▓ ███████ ███████████████████████▓ ████████▒ ▓█████████████████████▒ ▓█████████ ████████████████████░ ░███████████▒ █████████░██████▓░ ▒█████████████▒ ██████▓ ██ ▒▒█████████████████▒ ░█████ ███ ░ ░▒████████████████████▒▒ ██████▒░█▒██░█ █▒ ████████████████████████▒ ████████▒ ▓███ ████▓█ ██████████████████████░ ███████ ▒ ░██░ █ ███ ▒███████████████████████ ███████░ ▒ ███ █ ░██████████████████████████ ████████▓ ▓█░ ▒██████████████████████████████▒ ████████░▒██▒██████████████████████████████████ ████████████ █████████████████████████████████▒ ████████████ ████████████████████████████████ ████████████▓░██████████████████████████████▒ ████ ██ ██ █████████████ █████████████████████████████▒ ██ ██ ██████████████████████████████████████████ ████ ██ ████ █████ ████ █████████████████████████████████████████ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ███████████████████████████████████████▓ ██████ ██ ██ ██ ██████ ██████████████████████████████████████ ██ ██ ██ ██ █ ██ ████████████████████████████████████▒ █████ ██████ ██████ ███ █████ ███████████████████████████████████▒ ▒ █████████████████████████████████ ▒▒░ ELITE RECORD PLAYERS ███████████████████████████████ ▒▒ █████████████████████████████ ▒ ▒▒ ██████████████████████████▓ ▒▒▒ ████████████████████████ ░▒ ████████████████████ ░▒▓▒ ░ ███████████████▒▒░░▒░█░ ░ ┌────────┐ ────┤ Info ├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── └────────┘ Artist | Lilly Hiatt Title | Royal Blue Genre | Indie Format | Album Source | CDDA Time | 43:23 Label | Normaltown Records Store | 2015 Catalog | NTR2000 Rip | 2017 Bitrate | 221 kbps Size | 72.46 MB Freq | 44.1 kHz Encoder | Lame 3.98.4 ┌────────┐ ────┤ Tracks ├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── └────────┘ 01. Far Away 4:23 02. Off Track 3:08 03. Too Bad 3:11 04. Get This Right 3:29 05. Worth It 3:09 06. Somebody's Daughter 3:18 07. Jesus Would've Let Me Pick The Restaurant 4:09 08. Heart Attack 3:54 09. Your Choice 4:19 10. Machine 2:49 11. I Don't Do Those Things Anymore 3:57 12. Royal Blue 3:37 ┌────────┐ ────┤ Notes ├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── └────────┘ Rootsy singer/songwriter Lilly Hiatt had a lot to live up to when she chose to make music her career - her father is John Hiatt, one of America's leading songwriters since the 70s. Lilly was born in early 1984 at a chaotic time in her family's life - only a few months after she was born, her father checked himself into rehab to deal with a long-standing addiction to alcohol, and not long after he emerged clean and sober, Lilly's mother (who was estranged from John) took her own life. The Hiatts moved to Nashville as John set out to put his life back together, and Lilly grew up as her father began enjoying a new level of success as a musician and songwriter, as well as a new stability in his personal life. Lilly attended high school in Nashville, and later studied in Colorado at the University of Denver, where she decided she wanted to go professional as a musician. She made her recording debut in 2008, singing backing vocals on her father's album "Same Old Man", and she began playing out with her own band. In 2011, Lilly Hiatt & The Dropped Ponies struck a deal with Normaltown Records, a subsidiary of New West Records, and the following year they released their debut album, "Let Down". After plenty of touring (including several dates opening for her father), Lilly returned in 2015 with her second album, "Royal Blue". Not a lot of artists would claim both Lucinda Williams and Dinosaur Jr. as influences, but on her second album, 2015's "Royal Blue", Hiatt genuinely sounds like someone who has both of those artists in regular rotation, even if she bears little direct resemblance to either. It's a lot easier to hear how Williams fits into Hiatt's formula, since they're both women who write songs with an introspective streak, a big portion of emotional honesty, and a decided country accent. Williams seems to be more of a kindred spirit, however, than a direct influence on "Royal Blue", as Hiatt's lyrical approach is noticeably more measured, though no less incisive, and she has a wit and keen intelligence that's all her own (the title alone makes 'Jesus Would Have Let Me Pick The Restaurant' worth hearing, and the rest of the song is nearly as clever). And no, there's no guitar work on "Royal Blue" that's up to a J. Mascis level of towering noise, but for someone traveling the rootsy side of the Nashville songwriting community, it's pretty clear Hiatt isn't afraid of laying in a noisy guitar solo or some carefully modulated feedback, and Beth Finney's electric guitar and Luke Schneider's pedal steel give this a good, scrappy texture that's a welcome switch from the spit and polish of most contemporary Nashville productions. Whether she's sorrowful, confused, or downright angry about her relationships with various men, Hiatt sounds honest and unafraid on "Royal Blue" 12 songs, and she can rock out or lay back with equal conviction. Adam Landry's production does better by the music than it does by Hiatt's vocals, which are often a bit too deep in the mix, but the loose and open sound of this material is a step in the right direction, sounding like a more comfortable fit than the more pared-down tone of 2012's "Let Down". "Royal Blue" makes it clear that Hiatt is a naturally gifted songwriter, and she's getting better at the separate but related art of making records. ┌────────┐ ────┤ Group ├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── └────────┘