Katy Moffatt
Angel Town,  HMG/HighTone Records CD HMG 3004, 1998

 Delicate

Katy Moffatt dedicates this album to the late Nicholette Larson, but unlike that Southern California vocalist–known mainly for her vocal back-up contributions to other people’s records–Moffatt is both a respected singer, and an articulate songwriter. Two of her compositions here (which she co-wrote with Tom Russell), "Jigsaw Love Affair" and "The Game," address the complicated nature of relationships. Although love is oftentimes partnered with confusion, it can also be simply understood by even the most primitive of humans. Moffatt gets down to the bare basics here with a bluesy cover of the already bluesy Chris Smither song "Love Me Like A Man."

Moffatt has her ear tuned to many different musical eras as she dusts off Cole Porter’s "Miss Otis Regrets" at one point, and then stops a little closer to the contemporary music scene for the soulful "You Don’t Know Me." As her taste in music reveals, Moffatt is oftentimes a difficult singer to peg, stylistically speaking. And while her musical identity may be bewildering at times, her sense of class and taste are always beyond question.  Angel Town is an album that flies with delicate beauty, much like the beatific beings alluded to in its title.– Dan MacIntosh

 Glenn Brooks says... I love her water-pure voice and the way the sparse production keeps the focus on it. But Moffat’s version of "Love Me Like a Man" just makes me wish for Bonnie Raitt, and listening to someone take Porter’s folk-song joke "Miss Otis Regrets" for real is a hoot.