Description
The simple arrangements add to the album’s left-of-center appeal, with steel guitars, fiddles, and guitars whipping up a lazy mixture that falls somewhere between old rock and country with perhaps a touch of jazz thrown in. At one moment, LaVere and company cover Tex-Mex (“Overcome”), the next, funky rock (“People Get Mad”). Even on a fairly straightforward song like “That Beat,” the band brings a carefree joy that commingles well with LaVere’s torch singer vocal. Unlike many singer/songwriters, LaVere has pulled good songs from a variety of sources, and even when she borrows a song from a familiar figure like Bob Dylan, she borrows one of his lesser-known songs (“I’ll Remember You”). Anchors & Anvils’ off-the-cuff qualities (and Jim Dickinson’s production) help separate the album from run-of-the-mill singer/songwriter product, and because of this, make LaVere more appealing than the average singer/songwriter.
