Keep the faith they say, and that is something done with the music of Sara Petite for over a decade. Where others shine, prosper, flicker and fade, this San Diego-based country singer continues to pop up in centre stage to re-affirm all the reasons that caught the ear several years ago.
To put the whole story in context, the music of Sara Petite burst onto my horizon with DOGHOUSE ROSE in 2010, and instantly her two previous album releases - LEAD THE PARADE and TIGER MOUNTAIN were brought into the fold. Having moved into the world of blogging in 2012, the opportunity to review the 2013 album CIRCUS COMES TO TOWN was too good to resist with all the credentials of her appeal laid bare to savour and celebrate in words.
There was a live presence in the UK in the early days, but my only opportunity to see a show was confined to an hour solo slot in a pub in Stroud in 2014. As rewarding as that experience was, the holy grail is seeing the full band, a format where her strong distinctive vocals and sound would truly shine. In the seven years since 2014, there has alas been no tours, but we were treated to an exceptional album in 2017. ROAD LESS TRAVELED came sailing across the airwaves and nestled into a well deserved slot in my end of year favourite list.
Thus followed another quiet period from the perspective of an overseas fanbase until crash bang wallop a truly substantial album announced to lead us out of lockdown in 2021. RARE BIRD is the sixth and best release since, well err, ROAD LESS TRAVELED, which was the best since CIRCUS.. You get the drift. A slight difference with the new album is that a much more rounded sound has been explored and a rockier edge is added without any compromise to those stunning vocals that encompasses country music in its purest state.
The RARE BIRD ‘XI’ in a sporting context presents a formidable line up of tracks that would race up any league ladder table. Of course, while music is not a competition, that doesn't stop anointing this album a winner. From the cracking opener 'Feeling like an Angel' complete with a super chorus and anthem-like appeal to the folk stomping closer 'Working on a Soul' making this eleventh slot the ideal all embracing finale, you are well and truly rocked, serenaded, moved and taught a lesson in how to work a country style into several rip-roaring facets.
The team assembled to assist Sara Petite excel on album #6 are given every opportunity to shine and sizzling guitar parts are aplenty, no finer than on 'Medicine Man' in the latter stages. You get an early exposure to this different angle from her previous work in the straight-up genuine rocker 'Runnin'. A song hitting the traps adorned with guitar licks no sooner as the dust settled on the stellar opener.
This album isn't going to that vast post-release/review filing space any time soon, so there will be plenty of opportunities for other tracks to knock early pace setters 'Scars' and 'Floating with the Angels' off their mantle. Mind you, both are there on merit with some seriously impressive song writing matching the escalating sound on the former, while steel and fiddle keep wonderful country music still at the heart of a Sara Petite album in the latter.
RARE BIRD - the album - spins on the axis of pivotal track 'The Misfits'. One of the rockier efforts on the record and suggestively indicative of where the music of Sara Petite fits as it never really ventures down roads or hits destinations where you expect. 'Rare Bird' - the track - forms a ballad pairing with 'Keep Moving On', though the latter is in left field sound wise coloured by a soulful tinge complete with participating brass. The two remaining tracks co-exist in the album's midriff with 'Missing You Tonight' possessing the record's most delightful track opening, followed by 'Crash, Boom Bang' bringing no more than a slice of good ole rock 'n' roll to the party.
Whatever edge Sara Petite adds to her music, it will always be underpinned by a sumptuous twang, that while honed in Southern California could reflect any part of the South from Pacific to Atlantic. To bring things up to date in 2021, RARE BIRD sees country and rock operating in rampant tandem. The result is a riveting album injecting life in a decade long appreciation, and rewarding faith in many ways. Hanging in there has hit the jackpot and now onto to the next decade.