This came out in 2002 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
Listening to Kasey Chambers’ nasal, girlish twang and potent, unvarnished roots sound, it’s easy to imagine her growing up down in rural Georgia.
And you’d pretty much have to imagine it, because Chambers hails from a lot further south — Australia, to be exact, where she grew up performing in a family band. To some degree, she still is; brother Nash produces and dad Bill plays guitar, dobro and sings on her second solo album Barricades and Brickwalls. But it’s Kasey who commands the spotlight with this magnificently crafted lineup of slow-burning roots-rockers and finger-picked folk laments, more than a few of which compare favourably to Lucinda Williams (who lends some vocals to the country shuffle On a Bad Day). At other times, Chambers channels the she-devil yowl of Wanda Jackson, recreates the angelic heartache of Emmylou Harris, and even kicks out some sizzling neo-punkabilly with the help of The Living End. Which is another of saying she’s got it all. Wherever Chambers is or isn’t from, she’ll be going places.
