Austin, Texas-based fiddler/singer/songwriter Carrie Rodriguez blows the lid off with her fifth album, Give Me All You Got, her first release of largely original tunes in years. “I’m laying out some extreme emotional highs and lows,” she says. “Take ‘Brooklyn.’ It’s very autobiographical, and I remember thinking, would I really want to share this? I decided, of course, why hold this back?”
According to the Austin Chronicle, Carrie’s news songs marry “traditional country grooves…to the fuzzed-out guitar tones of darkened barroom rock & roll, juxtaposing whiskey-fueled dance parties with the two-stepping daydream of a genteel past. “
Rodriguez, who came to attention a decade ago performing with singer-songwriter Chip Taylor, has established an impressive roster of touring, recording and co-writing affiliations—with Lucinda Williams, Rickie Lee Jones, John Prine, Mary Gauthier, Alejandro Escovedo, guitarist Bill Frisell, and others. Although she has issued three albums under her own name and enjoyed major label support for 2008’s She Ain’t Me, the new release was recorded with her own band and produced by the renowned Lee Townsend. And the songs—which she wrote, co-wrote, or handpicked from the repertoire of longtime collaborators—establish her musical identity more powerfully than ever before.