Blue Bones

Audio Mixer: Steve Dawson .
Recording information: 1 Ton Studios, Victoria, BC, Canada; LewieToons, Berkeley, CA; Rootball Studio, Austin, TX.
Photographers: Kevin Kelly ; Mark Prins; Sheldon Zaharko.
Canadian country singer/songwriter Kim Beggs may hail from north of the U.S.-Canada border, but she maintains a familiar rural, working-class persona on her third album, Blue Bones. In her breathy, childlike voice, she recounts tales of lost souls, frequently drenched in alcohol, spending their time in bars when they aren't speeding down the road. The songs are set to country shuffles prominently featuring twangy string instruments or florid organ fills that contrast well with Beggs' singing. She throws in covers of Bob Dylan's "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight" and the country standard "I'm Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes," among others, but it's her originals that demonstrate the similarity between honky tonk sensibilities wherever they may be found in North America. There are more references to cold weather than might be expected if this were an album coming out of Nashville, but many of the concerns are the same. ~ William Ruhlmann