"Shannon Curfman." Soon that's all you'll need to hear and you'll know who I'm talking about. As I sit here writing this review, she's taping David Letterman. When I saw her show, she was being filmed for "Oxygen Television." There was more press for her at Toads than I've ever seen at that club before. Why? For one thing, because she's fourteen. Of course, that's not to mention she's good - frighteningly good.

Curfman started performing when she was seven. By the time she'd reached the ripe age of ten, she was playing the local coffee houses. Then she learned to play guitar, practicing with an obsessive zest. It wasn't long after that she was forming bands. The end result is "Loud Guitars, Big Suspicions," named for a line pulled from the Sheryl Crow song covered on the album.

Her band mates are obviously quite a bit older than she, ranging from 29 to 55 in age. She's surrounded herself with some good people. Senior member is former "Rufus" keyboard player, Kevin Murphy, the band that featured Chaka Khan. Her thirty-six year old guitarist is Randy Casey. She co-wrote about half the songs with Jonny Lang's collaborator, Kevin Bowe.

"Few And Far Between" starts off with hard driving guitar work. Curfman blends a Blues sensibility with Funk for a smooth result. Her vocal style is a cross between Bonnie Raitt and Sheryl Crow. She plays the guitar solo on this and many of the songs. This particular one is impressive. She has a sense of melodrama, which suits a girl of fourteen, but suits Rock music as well. It's about a relationship with someone who is toxic. "No Riders" has a honky tonk flavor to it. Curfman's strong vocal is distorted, as though through a megaphone, complimenting the raging harmonica and beat. Co-writer Kevin Bowe supplies mandolin on the track.

Curiously, in my opinion, the single from the album, "True Friends," is not one of the stronger songs. Piano opens the number, first joined by seventy's organ, then "ZZ Top" styled metal guitar. It's about the discovery that not all friends are true when the chips are down. Fellow teen, and Fargo, ND native, Jonny Lang's guitar solo roars along, giving the song a frenetic pace. She sings soft and high on "If You Change Your Mind," a ballad of sorts, about trying to get a lover to return. Chiming guitar notes lead in as she sings, "I smell you on my fingertips/ I can taste you on my lips/ I can still hear the echo of our last good-bye . . ." The lyrics dare one to believe she's singing about something far beyond a kiss, but it's important to keep in mind she can't even date yet. Her guitar solo is excellent here.

"Love Me Like That," co-written with Jonny Lang and Kevin Bowe is a real rocker. Andy Dee's lap steel leads a path through funk and around Curfman's throaty vocal. Male backing vocals add to the different, heavier flavor of the song. A self promise to accept only good love from others is the theme. The melodrama of opening guitar on "Playing With Fire" is a bit reminiscent of "KISS." Even the backing vocals remind me of them, but Curfman's lead vocal brings this song far beyond where any singer in "KISS" could take it.

Tapping on guitar wood provides opening percussion for "I Don't Make Promises (I Can't Break)." Curfman's soft vocal over acoustic guitar is sweet. This is perhaps the strongest song on the album, but that's a tough call, given the quality of the others. Main co-writer, Kevin Bowe, and someone named Kostas, contribute this one. Curfman does an awesome cover of the Sheryl Crow song, "Hard To Make A Stand." This is where the meshing of Crow and Raitt becomes most obvious. Still, Curfman gives the song her own slant too. You won't mistake her for anyone else when she belts out, "Hey there, miscreation, bring a flower, time is wasting . . ."

Curfman's live staple, her cover of "The Weight," appropriately appears here too. It's a rousing version of the "Band," song. The opening guitar lines on "Never Enough" could have been written by Elvis Costello, but they were written by Curfman or Bowe. It's a warm, slow song about longing for things impossible to acquire or achieve. Curfman will soon find few things beyond her grasp. Her sweet vocals caress the chorus, "Never enough/ Forever unsatisfied/ Missing a piece of my soul . ." She follows it up with pile driver vocals on the more bluesy "I'm Coming Home." The grittier sound achieved here is from Jonny Lang's lead guitar playing.

I walked into this album expecting to hate it. Though I'm not a fan of this type of music, I found about half the songs to be pleasing. I also discovered that the album grew on me with repeated listening. Just to make sure, I passed the album along to a friend who does like this stuff. Though she stepped up to the plate with similar expectations, a fan was born with one pass through the CD player. Expect to hear a lot about "Shannon Curfman" in the next few months. Then, expect to hear about her over her next two CD's; she's got a three album deal with Arista.