Carrie Rodriguez is a raven-haired wildflower, an alt-country songstress too feisty for Nashville and too down-home for rock ‘n’ roll. Initially hyped as a virtuosic fiddle player, Rodriguez is a hardworking, constantly touring roots songwriter — exemplifying her hometown (Austin, Texas)’s reverence for traditional music while flipping it the bird at the same time.
The cover of her 2013 release Give Me All You Got pretty much says it all: Rodriguez stands in the entrance of an old rustic barn, hips firmly set, wearing a feminine evening dress and an ornery look of defiance on her face. “So much of this album was inspired by coming home to Austin,” Rodriguez says. “I had been living in New York City for almost a decade when I moved back to my hometown. One of the first things that I realized I had been missing was waking up to the sounds of the birds. The peace and quiet here allowed me to reflect on life in a way that I couldn’t do in New York.”
Give Me All You Got is rooted in contemporary Americana — barroom stompers, mournful fiddle, glistening slide guitar and he-done-me-wrong ballads with a pop edge: too interesting for country radio, just quirky enough for Austin City Limits.
Opening track “Devil In Mind” is a saucy and spunky country-rock number that allows Rodriguez’s nimble violin playing to shine — the perfect soundtrack for some urban cowgirls cuttin’ it up on ladies’ night.
Rodriguez’s producer Lee Townsend told todoaustin.com “[Give Me All You Got] still addresses Carrie’s roots in Americana, but also with a bit of a pop edge. I think it is her most mature record — every direction that is explored is distilled to an essential kind of expression.”
Carrie Rodriguez plays 7:30 pm on Thursday, June 27, at The Shedd; $20-$28.