JEN CHAPIN — Linger (2004) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Sometimes singer/songwriters with eclectic musical tastes can seem bland or unfocused. Fortunately, Jen Chapin is able to blend her folk, jazz, blues, and other influences into a coherent and expressive urban folk style. She tends to favor measured performances over cutting totally loose, but her singing is soulful enough to give her music some backbone. The lyrics to "Gold" provide a good indication of how she is both similar to and different from her father, Harry Chapin; she shares her father's interest in social issues, as indicated by the song's inspiration (a comment by a sharecropper who was interviewed by civil rights leader James Foreman), but she has also been influenced by R&B, as indicated by her name-dropping trombonist Fred Wesley (James Brown, Parliament) during the song. Chapin seems equally comfortable gently chiding people for their political apathy ("Passive People") or using food metaphors for sex ("Me Be Me"); other songs are about heartbreak, hope, nostalgia, self-discovery, and her friend Kristy Ryan, who was killed on 9/11. The album also includes a couple numbers, "'Til I Get There" and "Manchild," that Chapin performed on Live at the Bitter End. Todd Kristel
Tracklist :
1    Little Hours    3:30
 Jen Chapin
2    Good At Love 5:04
 Jen Chapin
Keyboards – Stephan Crump
3    Me Be Me 5:14
 Jen Chapin
Handclaps, Finger Snaps – Rod Sherwood
Percussion – Stephan Crump
4    Manchild 3:43
 Jen Chapin
Percussion, Keyboards – Stephan Crump
5    'Til I Get There 5:14
 Jen Chapin
Handclaps, Finger Snaps – Rod Sherwood
Percussion – Stephan Crump
6    City 5:34
 Jen Chapin
Acoustic Guitar – Rod Sherwood
7    Numbers 4:38
 Jen Chapin
Percussion, Keyboards – Stephan Crump
8    Hurry Up Sky 3:59
 Jen Chapin
Percussion – Stephan Crump
9    Passive People 4:23
 Jen Chapin
Acoustic Guitar – Robin Macatangay
Drum Programming – Dan Rieser
Harmony Vocals – Alan "AB" Burroughs, Martha Redbone
Percussion, Drum Programming – Stephan Crump
10    Regular Life 3:45
 Jen Chapin
Hihat – Tony Mason
Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Arranged By [Flute] – Chris Cheek
11    Gold 6:09
 Jen Chapin
Portuguese Guitar – Rod Sherwood
12    I Could Fall (In Love With You) 7:01
 Jen Chapin
Acoustic Guitar – Robin Macatangay
Acoustic Guitar, Handclaps, Finger Snaps, Drum Programming – Rod Sherwood
Percussion – Stephan Crump
Credits :
Cello – Ann Kim
Drums, Percussion – Dan Rieser
Electric Bass, Acoustic Bass, Arranged By [Strings], Glockenspiel, Balafon, Berimbau, Mbira – Stephan Crump
Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar – Jamie Fox
Electric Piano [Rhodes & Wurlitzer], Piano, Pedal Steel Guitar, Tambura [Electric] – Peter Rende
Violin – Todd Reynolds
Vocals, Flute – Jen Chapin