Ginny Owens: Something More : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Coming soon to a WB/UPN/Fox teen drama in your living room. Twenty-six-year-old singer-songwriter Ginny Owens won Best New Artist at the 2000 Dove Awards (Christian music's Grammies), and many of the themes advanced on her second album, "Something More," respond to the emotional and spiritual challenges she experienced after her initial success. As a hand-wringer, Owens is not all that persuasive. This is a congenial album, comprised mainly of mid-tempo, mainstream pop songs. The best among them are "I Know Someone" and the title track -- on both of these, Owens' urgent piano chords augment her appealing, slightly raspy voice, conjuring comparisons with secular folk-popster Jonatha Brooke and her former band, the Story. Lyrically, Owens exemplifies the difficulty of expressing spirituality in music without being obscure, allegorical or simplistic. She sings vaguely about life's complications ("I thought the good guys always won the fight/But I learned life simply doesn't work that way" is typical), the lyrics floating by tracelessly. But while you probably won't sing these songs when you turn off your stereo, you may just walk away humming.

JEREMY SIMON
(April 30, 2002)