Judy Garland

A native of Puxsutawney, PA, Alexis Thompson, who currently resides in the Nashville area, boldly claims on her website that her “style (for those who need comparison) is Judy Garland meets Johnny Cash.” This somewhat tongue-in-cheek reference immediately shows she does not believe in artists simply being boiled down to comparisons. Yet, spend some time listening to Oh, Alexis!, and the comparison, while wild, starts to make a peculiar type of sense.

Oh, Alexis’ first single “Strugglin’,” self-released through Itunes, opens with a heavy traditional influence, supplemented by the velvet voice of Alexis Thompson. Delivering on familiar themes, Alexis, with an almost detached vocal interpretation open the song singing, “It was as if you waited 25 years / To taste the Jack and coke and beer / That had settled on my breath as it slowly left my lips.” Given that two decades is long time to burst with emotion, this appropriate delivery, along with production that manages to invoke tradition without sounding imitative or tired, makes this first release stand out even among more recognizable contemporaries.