Growing up, University of Wisconsin alum Alannah McCready allowed her Saint Paul roots to lead her to hockey, which eventually earned her a scholarship to play on the UW women’s team that won the 2009 NCAA Women’s Ice Hockey Championship.

But regardless of that and where such an accolade could have taken her on the ice, and with her mother having roots in Oklahoma, country music had always nestled deeply within her heart.

McCready, now living in Atlanta, GA has put together her brand new sophomore album, Ricochet Heart, due for release on April 27th, 2018.

Chock full of countrified guitar riffs aplenty, along with dashes of raw soul and pop blues, the rhythms may well be primal, but they sure elicit that well earned knee-jerk appreciative response from the listener, that's for sure.

With her lyrical content distinctly, shall we say, erring on the side of girl power, her views and standpoints from and about life most definitely embedded into the heart on her sleeve, McCready knows the kind of sound she wants to bring forth and, for the most part, isn't afraid to bring us all into the mix.

The opening track on the album, 'Enemies With Benefits,' is also, for my money, one of her best and with lyrics such as “I don’t like you, I never will, but you’ve got a body like a Coupe de Ville” free flowing gracefully, well, who amongst us hasn't encountered that particular relationship conundrum.

Other stand out cuts are the soulful title track 'Ricochet Heart', which twists and turns down all the most delightful country lanes, the summer radio jam 'Steal a Ladder', and the age old heel down hard, twist, turn, spin, dancefloor vibe of 'Last Girl Standing'.

www.AlannahMcCready.com

Alannah McCready @ Twitter