Review: These Four Walls by Shawn Colvin

Photo from Wikipedia

Words by: Emma Dunne

This album came out roughly in 2011. I picked it up, curious. And I think it may be the best Shawn Colvin album ever recorded next to “Sunny Came Home” which is the album she won for Best Album of the year in 1997 for, she won the Grammy for best song, and best album that year. What’s even more monumental than that is she wrote a book, her memoir in 2008. Why I think she’s a bad-ass: she can sing, she’s been sober since she was 23 (the age I am now) and she has raised her fifteen year old daughter all by herself. She is a total bad-ass and one of my childhood heroes. It goes to show you you don’t need a college degree to become a famous musician and singer. The songs off of this album tug at your heart-strings: “These Four Walls” signifies depression in its early stages. “Tough Kid” describes my childhood, “Summer Dress” is a song all about survival, “Cinnamon Road” could be a song about fame, “Wild Country” and “Wildflower” are my two favorite songs off of this album, next to “That don’t worry me now”. Whenever I am stressed out to the max, like I am now, I put on “That don’t worry me now”, it’s like a reminder to me. I don’t need to give in to the stress. I don’t need to give in to the haters of my life. People will ALWAYS try and bring you down. There is a specific comfort knowing that one of your favorite artists has an album that you can listen to over and over again, never get bored with it, and you take great comfort in listening to it. Music will always be my best friend in my life. Music got me through the 8th grade without killing myself, it has gotten me through my mother’s last drinking days to date, it has gotten me through the last stages of my college career. Without music, I would be dead. So, please, for depressed, anxious, stressed kids out there everywhere, do us a favor musicians and NEVER let the music die. Because when it dies, so will we.