Quirky Undertones
After reading Mitch Ritter's review of Annie Gallup's album Courage My Love, in your Oct/Nov issue [#78], I now consider him devoid of all credibility as a reviewer. I don't expect everyone to like the same artists as I do, but I do expect reviewers to be able to recognize merit even when an album isn't their style. Ritter's tone came across as personally spiteful (with perhaps a few sexist and ageist undertones), as if something in Gallup's work pushed a private button and rendered him incapable of any objectivity. I have been following Gallup's music for several years now, and am familiar with her albums as well as having seen her perform in person on a number of occasions. She is one of finest fingerpickers I have ever had the pleasure to hear, with a unique spin to her style that sets her apart from the crowd — to have her referred to as a "wispy strummer" is inexcusable. If her words were "metrically clumsy" to Ritter's ears then he must be quite stuck in the boringly predictable, or perhaps the idea of someone inserting a few quirky surprises into their lyrics is just a concept too wild for him to grasp. That he found her to be "smug and condescending" only shows he didn't understand her songs at all, or perhaps he was just projecting his own self-important attitude while trying to sound impressively disdainful. The only "torrent of words better left on the cutting room floor" were his own. — Marilyn O'Malley (Olympia, WA) (via email)

National Treasure
Thanks for the marvelous feature article on my hero Nanci Griffith [#79, Dec '98/Jan '99]. Time wrote that: "Nanci may be one of America's best poets and is certainly one of our best songwriters." Her albums Other Voices and Other Voices Too, as well as her book Other Voices: A Personal History of Folk Music have helped reawaken public interest in folk music, which is certainly my favorite kind of music. Nanci is a national treasure. It is possible that OV2 may be her final album — I hope that there is a lot more coming from her prolific pen. Dirty Linen has helped give Nanci some of the recognition she deserves and consequently made me one happy subscriber. — James Troiano (Stillwater, ME) (via email)

Great Big Pint
Not only does Dirty Linen continue to dismiss Great Big Sea as an also-ran by giving them only a paragraph here and there, now Lahri Bond has the nerve to sneer at their new recording deal and calls them sloppy [#79]. I have all the GBS CDs, I've seen them in concert three times, and even have had the pleasure to sit and talk with them over a "pint," something Lahri should do. They are the freshest, most exciting band I have ever seen. They are breathing life into traditional songs not by gimmicks, or blending musical styles, or whatever else groups are doing, but by pure, joyous singing, and do you know who is listening and attending their concerts? Young people, old people, mainstream audiences. Because of GBS teenagers who never would have heard a traditional song, are now singing them. I call that a great big accomplishment. — Bob Denial (Wyandotte, MI)