Carrie Newcomer

Betty's Diner: The Best of Carrie Newcomer

(Philo/Rounder)

Since leaving Stone Soup in 1991 to embark upon a solo career, Carrie Newcomer has matured into a respectable, if somewhat predictable, songwriter. Her latest outing Betty’s Diner: The Best of Carrie Newcomer culls material from six of her previous outings — her debut Visions and Dreams is the lone studio recording not represented — while adding three new compositions to her repertoire. Newcomer’s powerful voice and her knack for crafting simple, easy-going melodies that traverse the usual ground from adult contemporary pop to country-rock make the 18-song collection a pleasant, if otherwise unremarkable, endeavor. Offering a promise of things to come, however, is Bowling Baby, a swinging jazz-blues selection that carries a looser feel and contains more fire and grit than all of her other songs combined. ½