To reach her full potential, Carrie Rodriguez needs to check her humility at the door.
Rodriguez, who will open for Bruce Hornsby at Red Butte Garden on Sunday, is hailed by music critics and fans as one of the next great singer-songwriters, with her debut album "Seven Angels on a Bicycle" being held up as proof.
The problem is, she actually wrote very few of the songs on the album, at least partly because she did not trust herself to write an entire album of songs.
Instead, she turned to trusted co-writers, particularly renowned songwriter Chip Taylor, whose band she played in before striking out on her own. At the same time, this is not a writing team a la Avril Lavigne but more a matter of Rodriguez trying to develop the confidence to depend on her own words.
"I'm very open to help, and I work well with other people," Rodriguez said, "But it's very important to constantly challenge yourself, so I've tried to write more songs myself."
The thing about Rodriguez is that the songs she wrote herself are actually the best songs on the album, especially the title track. Backed by a spare musical arrangement, she recounts the story of what sounds like a perfect day among friends, highlighted by "Taking pictures on the subway/Enchiladas on a Sunday/Let's get drunk and we'll all play/Your fancy guitars."
The song was actually written after her close friend Andy Morgan was killed when a delivery truck hit him while he was riding his bike in New York City. She wrote it "to celebrate his life" instead of mourn his death, and a day of aimlessly riding bikes around the city seemed the most appropriate.
When filled out with those details, it becomes the type of optimistically gut-wrenching song that has been perfected by — take a wild guess — Lucinda Williams. And that song is not the only Williams-esque moment on the album, with "Got Your Name on It" and "'50s French Movie" channeling the legendary singer's style.
Where she strays from the Williams comparisons is vocally, as her often delicate voice is more akin to the Dixie Chicks' Natalie Maines (especially on "Never Gonna Be Your Bride") or Patty Griffin. And just as with her songwriting, it took some serious encouragement to even get her in front of a microphone.
Initially, Rodriguez preferred playing the fiddle — she actually trained as a classical violinist as a child, then evolved into a fiddle player. And she only started to sing when Taylor asked her to join his touring band.
Eventually, he pushed her to the front of the stage, somewhere she still feels out of place. "I never set out to do it, so it's really bizarre to visualize how the night will go.
"But once I get out there, I start to really have fun."
If you go
What: Bruce Hornsby, Carrie Rodriguez
When: Sunday, 7 p.m.
Where: Red Butte Garden ampitheater
How much: $34
Phone: 325-7328
E-mail: jloftin@desnews.com