Carter Sampson (from the album Gold

Carter Sampson (from the album Gold

Carter Sampson (from the album Gold available on Horton Records) (By Lee Zimmerman)
 
 
Building on the steady success she’s accumulated over the course of a nearly 20-year career, Carter Sampson seems to be gaining new renown with every release. Her new album Gold could very well be the one that puts the Oklahoma born and bred singer/songwriter over the top, given its sturdy yet sensitive sound and an ageless imprint that sounds like it’s been forever encased in the ether.

Co-produced by Sampson and her longtime collaborator Kyle Reid, Gold manages to deliver poignancy and persuasion in equal measure. The songs are easy yet assured, conveyed through a supple sway and the breezy accompaniment of a predominant pedal steel guitar. Carter Sampson’s silken vocals ensure a certain sensitivity, while also finding an ageless imprint that puts her on the same pedestal occupied by Lucinda Williams, Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris, and other queens of Contemporary Country.

That said, Sampson stands out all on her own. The title track — and the album’s first single — creates an immediate impression, the ache and emotion having been inspired by a conversation in which her mother expressed her care and concern like all mothers tend to do. Sampson offers her reassurance in return, bringing the emotion and appreciation front and center:
 
‘Mama don’t you worry about me, I’ll be fine,
I won’t be bought, I won’t be sold,
Cause you made me out of gold’.

The songs that follow are equally emphatic — “Black Blizzard”, a heartfelt narrative mined from the hard-wrought history of her native environs, the sassy and somewhat saucy “Fingers to the Bone”, a rousing “Yippie Yi Yo”, and the mellow coda that ends the album, “There’s Always Next Year”. Nevertheless, her sentiments are best summed up in one particular standout selection
“Can’t Stop Me Now”, a track that asserts her independence while offering assurance that despite whatever obstacles she might encounter, she’s well prepared to deliver on her dreams. Here again, the lyrics say it all:
 
‘I didn't wanna take a break,
I wanna go full steam,
I was just getting used to living in a dream’.
 
Given her earnest intents and thematic she makes, it seems all too certain that indeed she’ll succeed.  (by Lee Zimmerman)
 
Listen and buy the music of Carter Sampson from AMAZON
 
For more information, please visit the Carter Sampson website