The Duel

1	I Ain’t Giving Up On You
2	Baby Dreamer
3	Melancholy Polly
4	Believe You Me
5	One On the House
6	All Aboard
7	The Duel
8	When Will You Ever Come Down
9	Louise Is In the Blue Moon
10	Once Upon a Time She Said
11	Sing Me to Sleep

Barnes & Noble

Unsettling and irresistible, Allison Moorer's melancholy meditation, The Duel, sinks so deep into existential despair that it emerges as a cathartic experience. Backed by a small combo of redoubtable multi-instrumentalists, Moorer doesn't allow a lot of light in. The music is almost unrelentingly turgid, even when it kicks into a more driving groove, as on the choruses of the album-opening declaration of commitment, "I Ain't Giving Up on You," a positive sentiment delivered with all the gravity of an obituary. Moorer's stories aren't tailored for those seeking happy endings. "Melancholy Polly" breaks out of its torpor on the strength of some stinging, soaring lead guitar lines, but in the end Moorer is still ruminating on the plight of an artist trapped by her own muse ("Her words are a curse / every rhyme every line and verse") and barely able to find a reason to plod on. Churning and roiling, "Believe You Me" finds Moorer declaiming her need to believe in someone, even as she notes others' failed attempts at meaningful lives (a man jumps into a river to cleanse his sins, only to drown because he can't swim). On the title song, her cries of lost faith rise out of a murky soundscape sculpted solely by Steve Conn's piano and Sonny Red's bleak harmonica lines. Ah, but Moorer never espouses bowing out, nearly shouting, "Believe you me / I want to believe in you," to anyone within earshot, God included. With its compelling music and provocative philosophical musings, The Duel is a singular and enveloping journey inward. David McGee

All Music Guide

Once upon a time, Allison Moorer was a country artist who sang for a major record label. It might be easy then, to see her switch to Sugar Hill as a back-to-the-basics move, a reconnection with her country roots. Moorer, however, isn't that predictable, and The Duel -- while many things -- isn't country. In fact, the opening cut -- "I Ain't Giving Up on You" -- sounds a lot like classic rock and most of the album follows this course. This is interesting, in that Moorer's a strong writer, and it would've been easy to fall back on a tasteful country-folk production and become a fairly typical singer/songwriter. Instead, Moorer's plucky vocals, along with Adam Landry's electric guitar work and R.S. Field's steady backbeat, turn a song like "Melancholy Polly" into an easy-rolling romp. Another factor that makes the songs on The Duel so effective is that Moorer, besides being good at penning lyrics, is smart enough to write catchy hooks. This means that the listener doesn't have to be into the lyrics of "When Will You Ever Come Down" to enjoy the intriguing chord progressions. Even when country elements enter the picture, like John Davis' steel on "One on the House," one is reminded of Neil Young's Harvest more than country. Moorer seems to have found a comfortable spot to express her artistic whim at her new label, and The Duel is the happy result. Ronnie D. Lankford Jr.