Story of My Life
Deana Carter's multiplatinum 1996 debut,Did I Shave My Legs for This?, established the Nashville native as a winsome risk-taker: the Matraca Berg/Gary Harrison-penned hit "Strawberry Wine" positioned Carter as a maker of Southern--though not strictly country--music, and dared to put steamy sensuality back into the threadbare theme of lost innocence. Nine years later, she's still crossing the line and watching love slip through her fingers, though perhaps not as memorably as before.The Story of My Life, her first record for an independent label, is a full Carter showcase--she wrote, produced, and played on all eleven cuts. That's both the album's strength and its weakness. Carter starts out like a house afire with "The Girl You Left Me For," a declaration of desire ("I want your perfume on my pillowcase... I want to feel you on my fingertips") wrapped in a blanket of smart, sexy pop. But as the relationship sours in subsequent songs, Carter loses her producer's chops, even as the melodies linger. She's always been a fan of '70s pop, but inserting a Beatlesque break in the middle of "She's Good for You" is both jarring and precious, especially since other offerings, like the wistful "Not Another Love Song," seem underproduced. While Carter would do well next time to bring in a more seasoned partner behind the board, there's no denying her winsome charm as a Southern girl who has no qualms about going all the way.--Alanna Nash