By Abbey Olson,SDAM Staff Writer
©Copyright 2024 SDAM.com/Abbey Olson

True to her "cowgirl" claim, Angela was wearing boots, a knee-length "prairie" dress and a sweater when I met her at Twigg's Café in UTC. However, she pulled it off with "urban cool" which I'd guess is pretty hard to do. Most of the songs she played were part of her new obsession with "murder ballads". I don't know much about the genre, but I gathered that they are very sweet-lullaby sounding songs about having to "do someone in" that's "done you wrong". I'm not much of a Country person (ok I'm not at all) but this music wasn't Country. It was actually very soulful, personal, and at times eerie. All in a good way, strangely enough. I liked that the songs weren't whiney-folksy "oh I can't live with out you" "come back to me, please". And although I appreciate a good yelling "bitch someone out" song every now and again, I was taken aback at this almost straight-forward; "you've broken my heart now I'm going to have to kill you" approach to dealing with heartache. Of course, I don't condone murdering an ex and I doubt Angela does either, but the juxtaposition of a dulcet voice and melodic guitar with lyrics about vengeance and, well...murder, was bizarrely therapeutic. At the risk of never getting another date again after this article posts, I am also now a fan of the murder ballad. After hearing Angela's first CD, Red Room Songs, I wished she'd get a little bit more pissed off in her songs and let go a little. Being a fan of Ani DeFranco, I heard a similar vein of feeling in Angela, and was hoping to hear a little of Ani's grinding sound in at least one song. But Angela isn't Ani, and after seeing her live, I appreciate Angela's originality. Check out "South San Juan" off of Red Room Songs and keep a murderous eye peeled for Angela's next album. Find out more about Angela Correa on her Web site.