Reviews
“...sharply personal, boldly melodic pop originals in the Carole King/Billy Joel vein
...snappy, resilient, emancipated-woman anthems and touching lost-and-found love ballads”
“... what a voice. It comes from tender, intimate appeals, soaring to roof raising heights, as she all the while works the piano with ease and command
...where Witt really excels is in her ballads, personal and universal poems of love, longing, and everyday girl issues. Her lyrics flow with a poetic polish, and her piano playing rivals that of rockers Billy Joel or Elton John.”
“... her mature and telling lyrics resonate with deep meaning and purpose
...her probing words are intimate, candid, confessional ”
“There must be another Alicia Witt who made her film debut as a grade-schooler in David Lynch’s Dune, had recurring roles on shows such as Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Cybill and Friday Night Lights, and nailed a juicy season-long star turn on Justified as a sharp defender forced to clean up her numbskulled trailer-trash brothers’ murderous messes. Because albums by actors turned singer-songwriters are supposed to be laughingstock vanity projects, and Witt’s new album Revisionary History is a piano-pop gem that sounds by turns like “Grey Seal”-era Elton John, an alt-universe Fiona Apple and a film-noir chanteuse notching her nights in cigarette burns on the fallboard.
Recorded in Nashville's RCA Studio A with producer Ben Folds playing Richard Perry to her Carly Simon, the record couches Witt’s aching, acerbic songs in settings ranging from lightly percussive hip-hop to a sonic featherbed befitting a ’70s troubadour — sometimes within the same song, as in the striking duet “Down” with T.O.N.E.-z. Her pristine vocals and immaculate enunciation stand out on torchy ballads like the swooning opener “Friend,” but the song most likely to make this a keeper is “I’m Not Ready for Christmas” — a deliciously nasty anti-yuletide lament that will have Grinches fist-pumping every F-bomb and gift-wrapped gripe.”
-Nashville Scene, Jim Ridley - May 28, 2015