Denielle Baseels teases Americana, and with that, I am hooked, and that hook is a vocal spectrum deeply rich with spirited feelings and coloured with the breadth of emotions of all of life’s adventures and life’s deepest crooks and crannies. Then, like clouds parting, a sunshine delivering genuine warmth and embrace pierces through.
It all comes wrapped with a mischievous nod to swing, with some generous folk and blues stirred in, not just for good measure but for ample treasured and melodically sweetened good measures. There is some hinting at Patsy, Loretta, Etta, Connie Smith, Emmylou, and Brandi Carlisle. I hear a bit of all of them, but mostly — and rightly so — I hear a whole lot of Denielle, and it is the way it should be. After all, when she sings, she’s telling her stories. Stories of life’s depths and wonder, with the breadth of emotions of all of life’s adventures.