Alice Peacock’s debut album, Real Day, is a wonderful set of country rockers, ballads, and honky-tonk workouts. Lyrically, Peacock delivers the goods on the usual subject matter–love, heartbreak, and personal triumph–but with a sincerity and originality that is rare and refreshing. The character of her voice entices you and makes you care about what she’s saying. In the song “I’ll Be the One”, Peacock proclaims with quiet triumph that she’s “not the one you’re looking for” and that she’ll “be the first to say good-bye” and yet the plaintiveness in her voice gives her away. Independence is righteous, but also lonely. In its more electric moments, full of organ washes, pedal steel, articulate guitar solos and a punchy, melodic rhythm section, Real Day pulses with a slick, roots-rock sensibility reminiscent of the Jayhawks. When the album brings the mood inward with intimate tracks replete with cello, mandolin, and piano, you want to sit closer and really listen. This is a mature, personal effort by a young artist who has clearly seen much in her life, and yet one gets the feeling that the journey is only just beginning. –Michael Wells
