Reviews:
The Performing Songwriter
January/February 1994
Janis Carper - No Place to Land
If I were to start a record label, featuring intelligent country pop with a newgrass flavor, I'd head straight to Seattle and sign singer/songwriter/guitarist Janis Carper in a heartbeat. Carper works the same fertile ground broken by Kathy Mattea: classy, concise, meaningful songs, handsomely sung and supported by a tasteful mix of acoustic instruments. Like Mattea, she's not some Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, but a sincere human being who gets the job done in a warm and winning way. Songs that are more lyrically challenging, like the poetic "Stone In My Pocket," Carper makes instantly accessible with great guitar hooks, tough melodies, comfortable cadences and short, spacious lines. Others that are more"down-the-middle," like a reproachful "Was That You," never feel obvious or leaden due to her excellent vocal attack, delivering each repeated line heartily, but differently. This, and her other uptempos, sound like hits to me!
- Jim Campbell, The Performing Songwriter
Dirty Linen
Issue #44, February/March 1993
Janis Carper - No Place to Land (Skok-Carper Music SCM9201CD)
Seattle guitarist, mandolinist and singer-songwriter Janis Carper has all the ingredients and knows how to mix them. Her style and songs vary from folk, rock, country, blues and swing with enough air to let her soaring vocals breathe beautifully and let her melodies shine. She has the grit and growl of Patty Larkin and the country-rock twang of Mary-Chapin Carpenter. It's no wonder she's shared the stage with the likes of Jesse Winchester, Suzanne Vega, Tom Paxton and many others.
Many of Carper's songs deal with relationships and tell stories of love and life. In the bluesy folk-rock of "Delirious" a couple find themselves driven by the passion. In "Couldn't Hide Our Hearts," singing under the Texas sky provides the freeing atmosphere that allows true feelings to show. "Broken China" and "Couldn't Hide Our Hearts" were recorded in 1990 on Camp Coho, a living room recording of Carper with Heidi Muller, Jill Kennon, Kat Eggleston and TR Ritchie.
But some of Carper's other songs take different paths. "My Father's Farm,"with its fine acoustic guitar runs and harmonica by Steve Skok, is the story of a woman who grew up on a farm, now lives in the city and vows to pass those memories on to her children. Then Carper ventures into Texas swing, with Paul Elliott adding fiddle, in "Swing on Down to Texas," a song she wrote with Heidi Muller, who adds backing vocals.
Instruments don't overpower one another, and yet several songs are drivingand have a full range, from tasteful licks on acoustic guitar, mandolin and fiddle to drums, bass and occasional electric guitar.
- Stephen A. Ide, Dirty Linen
Victory Review
May, 1992
Janis Carper - No Place To Land (SCM9201CD) Skok-Carper Music
"Carper really comes into her own on this clean well produced and arranged album. The vocals are clear, distinct with the sharp bite on vocal and guitar that Carper is famous for. . . Carper's music is marked by a taste of blues, the edge of a Jim Page and reminiscent of Bonnie Raitt. . . An excellent album of original songs, superbly executed."
- Chris Lunn, Victory Review
Folk Roots
December 1992
Janis Carper - No Place to Land (SCM9201)
Twelve songs country based covering aspects of said genre from gentle, plaintive ballads to some hard riding rocking tracks; on the good side.
MUSICA A CASA VOSTRA
Alessandria, Italy
". . . A wonderful singer and guitarist with a strong sense of rhythm,Janis has without a doubt a colorful style which also incorporates elements of blues and jazz, which in the most substantial moments of No Place to Land brings to mind the Bonnie Raitt of her best days. But Carper is an artist gifted with her own personality and her songs are capable of expressing such a variety of themes and feelings which confirm her great gifts and her evident commercial potential."
- Massimo Ferro, Musica a Casa Vostra