Beth Hart
Leave the Light On
Koch (www.kochrecords.com)

If you’ve heard of Beth Hart and are wondering where she’s been the last few years, you’ll be glad to know that she has resurfaced. If you’re like me and have only just now heard of Hart, it is one acquaintance you will be pleased to make.

With a raw sound and a scratchy voice that occasionally hints of Janice Joplin, Melissa Etheridge and Joan Osborne, Beth Hart will not be forgotten. After a single listening I knew I had something good on my hands. What I didn’t know and still am not sure of is her religious persuasion.

In “Monkey Back,” she pleads with God to help her shake her alcohol dependency (which I understand had something to do with her initial exit from the music world). A few songs earlier in the album, Hart lets us know in “Bottle of Jesus” that “I don’t listen to rules or Gospel.” While the first song could be seen as a simple way to phrase frustrations with addiction (“Oh God save me for I am wicked and damned/ Oh God show me a better way to the Promised Land”), the brute honesty of the remainder of the disc reeks of her desire to be purified from her former self.

Hart’s music is equally disarming, ranging from the thoughtful title track to the blazing “Broken and Ugly” that kicks off with a deep-throated holler. Punching the ivories on a number of the tunes, Hart puts herself in the rare category of a talented musician with a whole lot of attitude and the ability to harness it into something worth visiting numerous times. And though Leave the Light On is certainly rock and roll, Heart has so much soul that many who enjoy a good gospel album will feel at home with her first Koch release.

Finally…Beth Hart has put out a well-produced album that somehow sounds as dirty as her past and she deserves to regain her place in the limelight. Her taste of studio musicians is also superb as I’ve never heard sit-in drummers put so much thought and power into each song. You may not find Leave the Light On in your local record store (it has actually had so much attention that Koch is having a tough time keeping up with demand), but it’s definitely worth whatever trouble you have to go through to make this a part of your music collection.

Daniel Brantley
earcandycritic@yahoo.com