MY LITTLE CRIME (Birdfish) • Erika Luckett

I am very enamored of Erika's last Birdfish release, Tinted Glass, so I wasted no time getting this from the mailbox into the CD player.

Some artists have a head full of music, some have a heart full of music. Some like Erika Luckett give this listener the impression that there is no place in her body or soul that is not radiating music.

Mexican born (so one says it Eddie-kah) to guitar playing parents, Erica moved to Brazil as a child of eight. Unlike those of us whose first tune on guitar was "House of the Rising Sun" or "Louie, Louie," the first song the artist learned on guitar was the Jobim classic "One Note Samba." Her musical horizons were broadened by living in Venezuela and then coming to the States in adolescence, studying at Berklee School of Music in Boston. In time the palette she was working with included Latin and Jazz music, acoustic Blues, Soul, Funk, and musical theater. She founded Wild Mango in the Bay Area at the end of the eighties, a Latin fusion band that achieved some international notoriety. Ultimately she was led back to concentrate on songwriting, solo work or ensemble work that was based on her solo act, and becoming a widely touring indie act.

My Little Crime is a profound record, further along than Tinted Glass, which I still play often. The lyrics are deeper and better, and a lot of this one was cut in New Orleans with Ethan Allen co-producing and playing, including a couple of super guitar tracks. Some tasty New Orleans horn charts flavor and distinguish this fine recording. Erika's an excellent guitarist, and the inspired arranging has her own funky self as the stunning hingepin. Many grooves are explored, but all in a realm of sensuous intelligence. Make a little room on the shelf for this disc, you could get lucky tonight.

An absolutely hypnotic artist, and a provocative record. Enthusiastically recommended.  • FG

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