LINA KOUTRAKOS Calling Baby Back
PRODUCER: Steven Haigler
WRITERS: L.Koutrakos, M. Harman
PUBLISHER: Plyner Publishing, ASCAP
WKF Music 122 (CD promo)

Ladies and gentlemen, an invitation to feel the pulse of some of the finest blues/rock east of New Orleans. New York-based Lina Koutrakos is beyond simple comparison with her overwhelmingly expressive voice, capable of explaining crisis in soft, pained whispers, then turning at the song's peak into a big earthy mama begging for her discarded man's return: "I been looking in the face of total strangers/Looking for forgiveness in my baby's eyes/There ain't no trace of the moon, and the sky is totally black/And there ain't nobody can hear me calling my sweet baby back." Koutrakos writes her own songs (accompanied on music here by Mark Hartman), assembled her own eight-piece band-driven to beefy perfection by producer Steven Haigler (the Nixons, Fuel)-and has performed before hungry audiences around the Northeast for years.
In addition, she's been splashed with accolades like The Village Voice's best newcomer in the rock category, France's Petit Piaf Award for best foreign performer in Paris, and as a participant in ASCAPS's Advanced Songwriter Workshop and Showcase.

Last Updated ( Thursday, 18 August 2005 )

LINA KOUTRAKOS:Love Grows Here (4:40)
PRODUCER: Richard Barone
WRITERS: L. Koutrakos, D. Gross, JP. Perreaux
PUBLISHER: WKF Music
WKF Music (CD promo)

New Yorkers in the know have been watching rock and blues singer/songwriter Lina Koutrakos' star rise for years now, but at a recent Sept. 11 tribute concert at the famed Bottom Line, she stunned the packed room to a hush and outsang a number of nationally known contemporaries. "Love Grows Here" is a radiant, ambling anthem that pays homage to strength and tenacity. The power of Koutrakos' voice is testimony enough, with a soul-nurtured, robust timbre that hints at both time-worn worldliness and a gracious, positive outlook, independent of the cynicism that so often accompanies social commentary. Her instrumental playmates-acoustic guitar, the shimmer of a cymbal, an insistent bongo beat, and near-tribal background vocals echoing alongside-add an organic texture that is like so many arms wrapped around, as Koutrakos rocks steady with, "Woman bravely/Dreams of moving sea and earth/Trying to define her worth/To know that she's existed." You'll feel yourself breathing in and out in unison with this pied piper of a vocalist, whose ability to blend grit and femininity is a blessed example of true artistry. This song is a gift, this singer is a treasure. Savor for yourself at koutrakos.com.

-CT

* Singer/songwriter Lina Koutrakos is the ultimate tease. Her 1st album was released a decade ago. At last, she issues a new collection of 11 songs on "lightning in a Bottle" led by "here I Am" a powerhouse anthem with which she often opens her concerts. The CD version likely seared the studio walls with the intensity that Koutrakos knocks out here as it builds to blowtorch proportions with patient deliberation and passion. The message is about self-empowerment, spiced with a life lesson or two. This lady uses her poignant words to teach and her mighty melodies to coach the masses. A welcome return-CT