CHRISTINE ALBERT - PARIS, TEXAFRANCE    

Buddy Magazine - by Tom Geddie   May 2008

Christine Albert has a love affair, it seems, with all things French.  Which is no surprise to her partner and willing accomplice Chris Gage.  Both have been successful solo artists.  Together as Albert & Gage, the Austin couple makes some fine music of its own and does the occasional (and almost always top-notch) special project for other musicians on the in-house MoonHouse Records label.

From time to time, Albert gets the French Jones.  Since her grandmother was from Paris, that’s no surprise.  On Paris, Texafrance, her third CD in her “Texafrance” series, the folk-country-pop singer-songwriter once again mixes her European roots with her Texas life, sharing a mix of English and French songs all with slinky French feels to them.  On eleven tracks, she does bilingual versions of songs by acclaimed Edith Piaf, eccentric Frenchman Charles Trenet, Jesse Winchester and others. 

While Piaf and Trenet are most stereotypically French, Winchester’s “L’air de la Louisiane” becomes even more poignant in this post-Katrina telling: “bitter sweet, we walk the streets of old Louisiana, shadows fall, our dreams have all been scattered by the wind.”

Albert’s voice can haunt; this is a beautifully performed collection.

Gage adds guitar, piano, and accordion accompanied by Paul Glasse (mandolin), Shawn Sanders (cello), David Caroll (upright bass), and Paul Pearcy and Eddie Cantu (drums and additional percussion.) 

_______________________________________________________________