I'm Just a Girl (CD - 2003)

Personnel: Deana Carter (vocals, acoustic guitar, synthesizer, chimes, background vocals); Jonathan Yudkin (vocals, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, cello, strings); Dan Dugmore (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, lap steel guitar, dobro); Matraca Berg (acoustic guitar, background vocals); Chuck Jones , John D. Willis (acoustic guitar); Dann Huff (electric guitar, steel guitar); Billy Mann (electric guitar); Randy Leago (accordion, clarinet, horns, piano, keyboards); Steve Nathan (organ, keyboards); John Hobbs (organ); Chris McHugh, Greg Morrow (drums); Eric Darken (percussion); Crystal Taliefero, Lisa Cochran, Andrew Gold, Bekka Bramlett (background vocals).

Audio Mixers: Jeff Balding; Steve Marcantonio.

Recording information: Emerald Entertainment; Luna Park; Sound Stage; The Sound Kitchen, Nashville, TN; Track Record, Los Angeles, CA.

Deana Carter had a hard time following up her acclaimed debut, 1995's Did I Shave My Legs For This?, stumbling with 1998's Everything's Gonna Be Alright before leaving Capitol Records and re-emerging nearly four and a half years later on Arista Nashville with I'm Just a Girl. A lot had happened in country music in the years that Carter sat out, including shifts toward both pop (in Shania Twain and Faith Hill) and roots (the O Brother Where Art Thou? phenomenon), and Carter continues to run outside the path by not pursuing either direction. Instead, she aims straight toward the heart of adult pop (slightly ironic, given the album's title and its 17 magazine-styled artwork), which really isn't too far off from where she was with on her first record. Still, there are telling differences: The production, apart from the closing raver "Girls' Night," is all smooth and polished, sweetened with pop and lacking nearly any hint of country, as well as the clear sense of humor. There's a keener eye toward a broader audience, right down to the cheesecake photos inside the liner notes, and the product placement in "I'm Just a Girl" sits uneasily (particularly since closing the chorus with "I'm a Chevy girl" makes it sound like an unofficial commercial). Those may seem disarming to those looking for the organic feel of Did I Shave My Legs, but Carter does this pleasing adult pop better than nearly any of her peers, partially because her ambitions are modest and her songwriting is sturdy and tuneful. At times, the production is so even, the music simply flows out of the speaker without distinction between tracks, but the result is a record that holds together as a nice mood piece while holding up as individual songs. True, it doesn't deliver a knockout punch upon the first listen, but it wasn't designed to. It's a quiet grower, filled with easy listening and sunny vibes. It might not earn quite the same audience as her debut, but this is about as good as adult-oriented pop gets in 2003. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

On her third album, and her first for Arista, pop-country star Deana Carter ventures ever further from traditional country convention (not that she was ever exactly Kitty Wells to begin with). "Cover of a Magazine" is a pure pop confection where Carter appears to have her cake and eat it too by lustily dreaming of being a sexy cover model but maintaining a small measure of ironic distance from the subject as an escape clause. In perhaps the biggest non-country step by any Nashville artist this side of Shania Twain, Carter seemingly jumps on board the contemporaneous garage rock revival with the rambunctious "Girls' Night Out." Carter's clearly nobody's fool--when the climactic moment in the title song arrives, and she sings "I'm a Chevy girl" you can practically see the potential automotive endorsements falling like rain from a cloudy sky. "Liar" is perky, chugging, '80s-sounding pop-rock that wouldn't have sounded out of place on an early Pat Benatar record. Dwight Yoakam turns up for a stab at old-school country duet singing on "Waiting," but with her inclination toward changing things up stylistically, Carter seems unlikely to wait for anyone or anything to catch up with her. minimize