Amy Rigby

For nearly a decade, this divorced, middle-aged New York mom has been turning out
pop-wise confessionals with the consistency and charm of a Nashville pro -- most notably
on her 1996 debut, Diary of a Mod Housewife. On her fifth album, she makes pretty, witty
tunes out of brutal honesty and some apparently deserved bitterness. Whether comparing
herself to Rasputin or dreaming of quality time with Joey Ramone, her biting hu... More >

Trying to be hardheaded, I ask myself how the soul-horned "It's Not Safe" or the wan "Always With Me" would sound on an album by someone similar I don't care for--Aimee Mann, or Gillian Welch. The answer is that a differently arranged "It's Not Safe" would be a highlight for either, and that the mournful "Always With Me" is there for mood and pace. A cover sticker quotes the claim that she's as consistent as Richard Thompson or John Prine, but Thompson hasn't been her match lyrically for decades, and Prine, bless his heart, has recorded one album of new material since 1995. It really is quite simple--no one of any gender or generation has written as many good songs in Rigby's realistic postfolk mode since she launched Diary of a Mod Housewife in 1996. She's the best, plus a fine singer in an apt doing-the-dishes mode. Not counting the heart-tugging "Dancing With Joey Ramone," my current fave is "So Now You Know," in which a beloved tells her perfect man how she was once a slut. "Year of the Binge" could be about the same woman. Who almost certainly isn't Rigby--when would she have had the time? But the mod ex-housewife knows her well. (Grade: A)