Grey De Lisle inhabits a number of characters on her second album. The beautiful “Beautiful Mistake”, sounding like a classic Patsy Cline torch & twang tune, segues to the rousing ’50s-style rockabilly title track and then the soulful, fiercely sung “Dead Cat”. She concludes by stringing together the feisty New Wave-flavored rocker “The Hole”, the banjo-led ballad “Twas Her Hunger”, and the sideshow blues of “Ferris Wheels And Freakshows”.
While this stylistic diversity could have made for a chaotic disc, DeLisle’s dynamic vocals tie it all together. Maria McKee, another Southern California country chanteuse, comes to mind, and it’s more than just the fact that Lone Justice’s Martin Etzioni produced this disc. The two women both possess big-time voices that are powerfully dramatic but also warmly personal.
Etzioni also provides Homewrecker with a richer, fuller sound than DeLisle’s promising debut, The Small Time. Jerry Yester’s string arrangements supply a touch of Owen Bradley without overwhelming the songs. “Showgirl (I’m Sorry)”, her elegant duet with Old 97’s bassist Murry Hammond (her husband), suggests the twang-pop sophistication that Stephin Merritt showed in “Papa Was A Rodeo”, but De Lisle’s tune feels more emotionally direct.
On the opening track, “Borrowed And Blue”, DeLisle sings “something old, something new,” and that phrase nicely summarizes her approach here. She takes on a number of familiar musical styles, yet brings a delightful freshness to them.