With her Red House Records debut release, Call It My Garden, Carrie Elkin has emerged as one of the defining new voices in the world of Texas singer-songwriters, being celebrated by Texas Music Magazine as one of their artists of the year. She's an artist full of contrast and contradiction. With a voice that's somehow both gritty and pristine, the Austin Chronicle calls it "an earthy combination of strength and compassion . . . reminiscent of the winsome beauty created by a young Nanci Griffith" while Bob Harris of the BBC throws in comparisons to Patty Griffin and Iris DeMent, and calls her voice "spellbinding from the opening note."

That contrast is reflected in her writing, as well, which is at once devastatingly intimate and embracingly universal. It's this ability to mine greater significance from the minutia of life that makes Elkin's songwriting so compelling. Or, as Flying Shoes UK puts it, her songwriting creates "the sense of vivid connection to her vision of the world."

The voice, the stories, the images, the grace and infectious enthusiasm, it's a complete package. But perhaps more than anything, it's the power of her live performances that is creating the remarkable buzz around this young artist. On stage, Elkin can turn a delicate trickle of a note into a tidal wave of emotion. Or, as a Maverick Magazine review declared after a recent festival performance: "I have never seen a performer so in love with the act of singing. Onstage Elkin was simply a force of nature." Don't miss this opportunity to see this exciting artist in concert, and in full force.