Amelia White – Black Doves

“Hard workin’, hard drinkin’ indie country alty folker rocker” — those are Amelia White’s words, but she’s better than whatever marketing jokes she ventures. The Nashville-based songwriter left out “smart and catchy and tuneful” in the way that recalls Steve Earle’s mesh of power chords, jangle and a meaty rhythm section. She’s also digested Island-era Tom Waits (via junkyard percussion that’s never shtick), Giant Sand (in noir guitar layering that’s never lo-fi), and straight-ahead FM rock like the Wallflowers (via just about every hook). Her voice resembles Martha Wainwright or Kirsty MacColl, embracing melodies and then just letting them go. Every song, even the ballads, has a good tune, each as clear as her themes. Love songs give way to landscapes, both confessional and wider than herself, with details that never intrude on the sonic thrust. One can forgive an easy refrain like “I’m broken but I’m not broken,” especially when it turns out to be metaphor for falling down drunk. The title track, however, is the stunner, a fine, subtle and personal anti-war statement a la “Who’ll Stop The Rain”, with peace doves turned funereal black but free to haunt a lover left behind by the military call-up. White sends these songs out to artists working in a post-9/11 world; with certain promise and purpose, she makes the dedication count.