Album Review: Rissi Palmer – Rissi Palmer

Ouch.  This one hurts.  For an artist who turned down a contract to record pop, and stuck it out for a deal in country music, I expected much more.  Though she came from neither American Idol nor Nashville Star, her sound hints otherwise.  A little digging around, and there it was, she competed in Talented Teens, and from that, was offered the R&B contract she declined, and made her way to Nashville. 

In a genre where black musicians have never faired well, with the very few exceptions being Charlie Pride, Neal McCoy, and very few others, Palmer is a welcome addition.  She has great pipes, a charming style, and an easy sound.  However, the songs she presents on her self titled debut are lacking.  I hate to put anyone in this catagory, but it’s reminicant of Shania and Faith a few years ago.  It comes across medicore at best. 

I hate that race has come up as an issue when Palmer is discussed, but save her label pulling what was done to Charlie so many years ago (no pictures or concerts so no one knows you’re black) there was no way to avoid it.  And she addresses it in her first single, Country Girl.  Somehow, this cut took FIVE people to write, which baffles me, but it gently addresses being both an Afrian-American from St. Louis, and trying to make it in Nashville.  The single attempts to attract the urban Redneck Woman crowd, and whether it succeeds remains to be seen.  No track really grabbed me, and I found myself bored and struggling to get through the entire album in one sitting.

There is a place for Palmer in country music, but this album will not catapult her there.  She has great talent, there is no debating that.  But she needs better material to work with.  The slick production and her strong delivery fail to overcome the weakness that is the songs themselves.  Hopefully, she will survive what I anticipate to be weak to marginal sales and airplay from this album long enough to release another.  And hopefully, she will by then have some material worthy of her talents.

 Grade:  C-