Shawn Colvin December 10, 2008

Shawn Colvin is one of those rare performers, like Bonnie Raitt, Emmylou Harris, or her youthful idol Joni Mitchell, who has been able to grow up alongside her audience and mature into her role as singer and songwriter. Although she was rewarded with a Best Contemporary Folk Grammy for her 1989 debut disc, 'Steady On,' Colvin didn't reach a broad mainstream audience until eight years later, when her story of a housewife's fiery revenge, 'Sunny Came Home,' became an unlikely top ten pop single fifteen months after the album it was taken from, 'A Few Small Repairs,' was released. Her latest album, 'These Four Walls' a is very much an album of shared experiences, common epiphanies. As a storyteller, Colvin remains both clear-eyed and warm-hearted, leavening even her toughest tales with a little tenderness and a lot of empathy. Similarly, her musical arrangements are both succinct and seductive, understated enough to allow Colvin's lyrics to sink in.