The former frontwoman of Americana band Paper Bird, Esmé Patterson is a key player on Denver’s “folk’n’roll” scene. For this, her second solo album, she gives a voice to the women immortalised in songs, retelling well-known stories from their perspective. As Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean, Elvis Costello’s Alison and Leadbelly’s Irene, she is defiant and witty. “Your man don’t mean a thing to me”, she retorts as Jolene on Never Chase a Man. The concept is brilliant, with several stand-out tracks, but over the space of an album, the continued confrontation wears a little thin.
