Heather Myles - Untamed (1995/2020)

It's hard not to root for Heather Myles. She is a singer/songwriter rooted in honky tonk music, going the indie route and eschewing Nashville, and those breeds are too rare. Nonetheless, the recipe hasn't yet delivered on all of its promising ingredients. She actually sounds best when she is at her most imitative of vintage '50s sounds: "When You Walked Out on Me" is a rougher-voiced Patsy Cline, "Cadillac Cowboy" is very much in the rockabilly-pop mold of early Brenda Lee. The more contemporary sounding efforts are blander, and she is occasionally prone to vocal swoops that sound a little hokey. As modern California country goes, it's not bad -- it's certainly not overly slick -- but it lacks the edge or personality that would establish her as a major contender.