Amanda Wilson – Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind

Ever since the smash success of LeAnn Rimes debut album Blue there has been a number of teenage recording artists making their way onto the national scene. Lila McCann has a had a couple of hits off her debut album, Jenny Morris recorded an album for Del-Fi Nashville, and Amanda Wilkinson of The Wilkinsons is enjoying success on the airwaves. Now Amanda Wilson has arrived with an album titled Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind. At 16 years old the maturity of her voice is the first thing that hits you. She takes her smooth, relaxed voice through a solid ten-track collection.

The album opens with one of the best tracks titled "I Remember." In the song Amanda reflects back on a relationship that has ended. Amanda also tackles remaking a Joy Lynn White song titled "Bad Loser." I have always said that covering a Joy Lynn White recording is a daunting task. White's aggressive vocal styling gives songs an edge that's hard to match. Thankfully Wilson doesn't try to photocopy the sound of Joy's recording and instead turns the song from an aggressive one to a more mellow, thoughtful tune. It works out fine, a solid cover. The gospel flavored "Don't Give Up," works solely because unlike a lot of gospel flavored music it doesn't hammer you with an overpowering message for it's entire duration. It's another example of good song selection. One of the albums few faster tracks "You're In My Heart," feels like an old pop song but still keeps its country edge. One of the albums best. "I Like The Way You Are," is a solid ballad.

In fact Wilson only slips up on a couple of tracks. The good news is that the slip-ups are do mainly to poor songs and not Amanda's vocals. "Southern Cooking'," is the albums low point. With goofy lyrics the song comes off as an attempt to record the humorous styled songs Tim McGraw does so well. The only other complaint is found with "Home To You," which just doesn't seem to have some key ingredient to make it a stand out song.

Amanda Wilson has a load of talent. Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind is a collection of songs that shows a lot of promise. She's only going to get better over time. Keep an eye out for Amanda Wilson, she's going to be big one day.

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