Three powerful women of song — Courtney Love, Melissa Etheridge and Mary Chapin Carpenter — have new CDs out today.
Of these three, aging riot grrrl Courtney Love, 45 and fronting a new edition of her band Hole on “Nobody’s Daughter” (* * * ½), has the most uncensored vision of the female experience. The guitar-powered alt-rock is angry and raw on songs such as “Skinny Little Bitch,” a Joan Jett-like punk-blues piece. And in the autobiographical title track, Love hisses like a trapped cat: “I want to see you stretched out on the floor, the world’s broken doll, the world’s shattered whore.” But a gentler Courtney surfaces on the track “Never Go Hungry,” in which she wails to a strummed acoustic guitar: “I’m hungry for a life a little less cruel, some dignity and not too much sorrow.”
On “The Age of Miracles” (* * *), older and wiser Mary Chapin Carpenter, 52, a five-time Grammy-winning country singer, makes her best case for the resilience of love in her duet with Nashville superstar Vince Gill on “I Put My Ring Back On.” This country queen reached deep here and discovered her inner rock chick.
Melissa Etheridge, 48, who’s had an artistic rebirth since a bout with cancer, continues to reach for a bigger sound. On “Fearless Love” (* * *), think Led Zeppelin in high heels. Throughout the album, her voice is gritty good, and she shows off her ability as a six-string shredder. She especially hits the mark on “Miss California,” where she vents about how the Left Coast state let her down when it came to same-sex marriage. It’s a near perfect homage to the Jimmy Page thrash ’n’ blues guitar style.