Katy Moffatt - Up Close and Personal

Katy Moffatt is a brilliant songwriter and a consummate performer, giving her all with a sweet acoustic live performance, recorded at AMP House Concert #36 (now the Bosque HouseConcerts), in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on October 12, 2002. This performance perfectly captures Katy's sweet voice and straight-from-the-gut songwriting skills, as well as her strong guitar picking style.

With her folksy, bluesy style and heartfelt honesty, Katy Moffatt can sell a song. Her sweet vocals flavor this live performance with a cheery brightness. The original songs are sharp, and the covers well chosen. It's a treat to hear Moffatt's take on Jimmie Rodgers' "Waitin' On A Train."

Moffatt is a true veteran of the music industry, a songwriter and player whose work has put in the company of such folks as Dave Alvin and Rose Flores; she's appeared in several country music-related movies; she's been covered by Janie Frickie and Hoyt Axton (and it's always a compliment when another songwriter covers your songs!) heck, she's even outsold Garth Brooks in the UK! Her style touches lightly on blues, country, and folk, with a comfortable blend that works well with her clear soprano and plain guitar strumming.

There is a fireball of talent here, some really good songs performed really well. But to be honest, I think it would play a great deal better live. Recorded, as a whole, the disc seems slow and draggy, the songs blending into each other somewhat. I found I enjoyed each individual song a great deal better when I played them separately, rather than listening to the disc straight through.