The Duel

She made her live debut, singing “A Soft Place to Fall” from the Horse Whisperer soundtrack, on the 1999 Academy Awards telecast. Since then, Allison Moorer, with her gloriously husky voice and brilliantly blunt songwriting, has quickly taken a place alongside such celebrated anti-Nashville stalwarts as Steve Earle, Kelly Willis, The Mavericks, Emmylou Harris, and Lyle Lovett. Alternately coming on like a barroom Dusty Springfield, a grittier Patty Loveless, and a melancholic Lucinda Williams, "The Duel" simmers and burns country soul –- all fueled by a crackling Crazy Horse-esque backing band; it’s her loudest, most personal work to date. “It's a rich voice, more soul than country, an instrument that she uses with remarkable precision. Her phrasing and vibrato are always under control, but still loaded with emotion that seems to always be on the verge of overtaking her artistry. It's a voice that recalls Tammy Wynette and Bobbie Gentry, but you could as easily draw musical lines to Aretha Franklin and Fontella Bass.” —-The Washington Post