Sally Barris

Musicologists wax poetic about the deep connection between Celtic and country music, but never has this tie been more apparent than with the release of Restless Soul from Sally Barris.
The Nashville-based artist and songwriter has seen her songs recorded by a wide variety of country music's elite.  Those who have cut Barris' songs include country/pop superstars like Martina McBride and Trisha Yearwood, but also new traditionalist
Lee Ann Womack and newcomers like American Idol finalist Kellie Pickler.
Restless Soul, a surprisingly seamless merger of these two facets of Barris' career, sounds like the record she always wanted to make.  Her ethereal soprano, often compared to that of Alison Krauss, is utterly at home floating above a unique texture of accordion, fiddle, and dobro.  Barris, who self-produced this, her third effort as an artist, selected a small group of backing musicians who share her multi-faceted "country and Celtic" pedigree.  Notable contributors include Stuart Duncan, Jon Randall, and Andrea Zonn.  As a result, Restless Soul will seem both fresh and familiar to Barris' two camps of fans: the British folk-festival goers who listen to her alongside Kate Rusby, and the country music fans who know her songs from recordings by Martina McBride and Trisha Yearwood.
As Alan Cackett of the British publication Maverick Magazine so enthusiastically put it: “If you’re a fan of the likes of Kathy Mattea, Mindy Smith, Lee Ann Womack or Alison Krauss, then you need to rush out and buy Restless Soul. Ms Barris has really grown in her vocals and her approach to her music. This is going to be a hard CD to top.”