"On a Clear Day" by Natalie Zukerman

a Review by Amy Producer of Collected Sounds

First impression…lovely vocals and really interesting guitar parts. The instrumentation reminds me a bit of Ani DiFranco. Lots of finger picking and intricate stuff going on. CDDB calls this Bluegrass, but it sounds more folksy to me. Other than the fact that the guitar she plays is a tad banjo-sounding.

Oh, and she not only wrote all of the songs (lyric and music) and plays guitar but she also produced the CD. This is a pretty talented lady.

"Southern Wind" has great smoky vocals and a sleepy melody that makes you feel like you're down south on a porch. In fact many of the songs have a sort of lazy summer feel to them.

"Little Heart" is really cool and dirgy.

"Beasty Child" really sounds like Ani to me. The liner notes say that Julie Wolf plays accordion and Wurlitzer, so I'm not surprised to hear the Ani similarity (Wolf played with Ani for several years).

"Augies" has a distinct jazz feel. Very fun.

These songs make me want to pick up the guitar, but I know I'd never be able to play like her, so I'll stick to being a listener rather than a participant.

This CD has a nice blend of genres and Natalia Zukerman does them all well. This is a great summer afternoon CD.

Posted on May 19, 2004