Admittedly, I had absolutely no idea who miss Barton is. This is one of those times an album cover sitting in the rack captured my attention. A young girl, rather bold, and a title stating Old Enough. Came off rebellious, a bit punk in mental image. I decided it was worthy.
Interesting enough, this is one of those releases not available on Spotify. Yes, the never-ending library you think you have does in fact not have everything. All the more reason to appreciate physical media.
She is a blues style singer, originally in the W.C. Clark Blues Revue. After this, she was in Triple Threat Revue, which included famed guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughn. Her leave had him turn this group into a duo known as Double Trouble. Her solo work sadly did not get the same prestige, and she ended up hopping from label to label. Her first two albums went out of print rather quickly due to poor sales.
I think it is time to shine a light on the good and the bad here.
The album begins with "Old Enough", the title track. Her voice actually has a youth to it, but she definitely has some good grit. I think the song has good potential, but the chorus seems a little in need of work.
"Brand New Lover" almost has a Juice Newton pop/rock flare to it. Very solid track. Shows a better showing than the first track.
"It's Raining" is a country flared track and her voice sounds gorgeous with it. She sings with rawness and I think this is the best track thus far.
We move to "It Ain't Right" and I think she is trying to do a bit too much with her voice here. It ends up sounding all over the place.
Next is "Finger Poppin' Time", an extremely country leaning tune. Very cutesy upbeat track.
"Stop These Teardrops" gets back toward her original blues vibe. Definitely sounds good, not quite my style, but done well.
"The Sudden Stop" has a little rough of vocals on it, but it fits the raw brokenness of the lyrics on this track.
This moves us to the "Doodle Song" and it feels a little oversung. She definitely keeps passion vocally throughout the album though!
"Maybe" is a lovely rendition. The whines in her voice just enhance the rawness of the lyrics of this track.
The album closes with "Every Night of the Week", which feels like an odd note to close on. It just seems so upbeat. But at the same time, it may make you want to play it again.
LYRICS: 7/10 - Lyrics are pretty solid throughout most of the album.
MUSIC: 6/10 - Music sometimes grates me a little, but it is good for what it is.
OVERALL: 6/10 - Definitely did not deserve the lack of recognition. She shows a great deal of potential in this outing. If you like Juice Newton or Lauren Branigan vocally, you may want to try her out. She is grittier than the two mentioned, but she has the flare.
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