Search - Sonya Hunter :: Finders Keepers

Sonya Hunter is a folk singer from the old school. The Northern California-bred singer/songwriter conveys an earthy yet graceful simplicity, whether in her own songs or on the swath of traditionals that she reinterprets on Finder's Keepers. Standards such as "Walking Cane" and "Silver Dagger" are transformed into her distinctive folk style with remarkable effect, while covers from the songbooks of Buffy Sainte-Marie, Bob Dylan, and Stephen Stills receive more faithful, but no less effective, reworkings. Of Hunter's own material, "Man in the Movie" and the closing "Not a Lack of Love" are standouts; her guitar work, along with that of accompanist Erik Pearson, has some exquisite moments, as on Jeb Nichols's "GTO." There is a charm and sincerity in Hunter's vocal, and warmth to her performance, that are absorbing and refreshingly devoid of mannerism or artifice. This contemporary campfire chanteuse provides a grounded musical counterpoint in the tradition of the McGarrigles and Gillian Welch. --John Sutton- Smith