It's So Hard to Tell Who's Going to Love You the Best

by Karen Dalton

Overview

Some find Karen Dalton's voice difficult to listen to, and despite the Billie Holiday comparisons, it is rougher going than Lady Day. But Dalton's vocals aren't that hard to take, and they are expressive; like Buffy Sainte-Marie, it just does take some getting used to because of their unconventional timbre. Her debut album has a muted folk-rock feel reminiscent of Fred Neil's arrangements in the mid-'60s, unsurprising since Neil's Capitol-era producer, Nick Venet, produced this disc too, and since Dalton, a friend of Neil, covered a couple of Neil songs here ("Little Bit of Rain," "Blues on the Ceiling"). Although clocking in at a mere ten songs, it covers a lot of ground, from Tim Hardin, Jelly Roll Morton, and Leadbelly to the traditional folk song "Ribbon Bow" and the Eddie Floyd/Booker T. Jones-penned soul tune "I Love You More Than Words Can Say." The record is interesting and well done, but would have been far more significant if it had come out five years or so earlier. By 1969 such singers were expected to write much of their own material (Dalton wrote none), and to embrace rock instrumentation less tentatively. ~ Richie Unterberger

Product Details

Release Date:	03/01/2024
Label:	Light In The Attic Records
UPC:	0826853045100

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Karen Dalton   Primary Artist,Guitar (12 String),Lead Vocals,Banjo
Daniel Hankin   Guitar (Acoustic)
Gary Chester   Percussion
Harvey Brooks   Guitar (Electric)
Kim King   Guitar (Electric)

Technical Credits

Lylliane Douma   Engineer
Sandy Fisher   Engineer,Engineer
Traditional   Composer
Richard Tucker   Photography
Thomas Molesky   Reissue Design
Joel Brodsky   Photography
Leroy Carr   Composer
Huddie Ledbetter   Composer
Public Domain   Composer
Mel London   Composer
Nicholas Hill   Reissue Design,Producer
Booker T. Jones   Composer
Major Wiley   Composer
Tim Hardin   Composer
Nick Venet   Producer
Jelly Roll Morton   Composer
Karen Dalton   Adaptation,Composer
Lead Belly   Composer
Fred Neil   Composer
Eddie Floyd   Composer