Deb Yager didn't start playing guitar until she was in her mid 30s, but you wouldn't know that by listening to the smartly crafted folk numbers on the six-song EP that she recorded in her former hometown of Austin, Texas. Yager has been in Bend for the past five years, playing music with her band Little Fish, which includes her husband, Bo Reynolds, while creating songs of her own on the side.
On this album, Yager shows herself to be a hidden talent of sorts here in Central Oregon, with lyrics that might not be terribly unique but seem soaked in honesty and fit perfectly with the poppy Americana numbers that make up the identity of this record. What's also surprising is the mainstream appeal of songs like "This Kinda Love," a track that sounds country-radio ready. The album opener, "Weak in the Knees" is another sugar-topped love song that in addition to giving listeners to first taste of Yager's smooth voice, sets the bar for the level of musicianship we'll hear from her backing band for the rest of the disc. This band - with Reynolds playing on many tracks - can really rip it up, and the quality of recording is as good as anything we've heard from this genre in Central Oregon.
Yager, although gigging steadily throughout the area for the past few years, might be one of Bend's best female singer songwriters and this record is proof of that assertion.
