ESTHER ROSE Schallplatten & CDs

Review: It's hard to imagine anyone growing up in New Orleans and not falling into some sort of musical pursuit. If you've ever been to the Big Easy the fact that tunes and songs and rhythms and blues and Americana and bluegrass and jazz seem to float on every whisper of every breeze will not have passed you by. That goes whether you're draining the glass on Bourbon Street or in one of the Louisiana city's more authentic, less touristic corners. Hometown girl Esther Rose doesn't necessarily follow suit. Country, yes, but there's a tendency towards ignoring the genre tropes to step out and do her own thing. More power to her. Yes, 'Scars' and 'Want', for example, are blissful acoustic numbers as timeless as they are familiar - no criticism. But the likes of 'New Bad' feel genuinely inimitable.