Kelly McCartney, All Music Guide

Sonically, Steady On is a triumph, with its emotional intimacy captured with smooth precision. Vocally, Colvin's tender, sometimes whisper-like performances are astonishing and haunting, provocative and seductive all at once. Then there are the songs that flow so effortlessly into one another that to remove even one would seemingly upset the entire balance of the cosmos as we know it. The sly Colvin adeptly plays with words, beats, phrasing, and rhymes, focusing not just on the meaning, but also the feel and rhythm of the lyrics to great effect. Having once claimed that she tends to write about the "positive side of the painful experience," this album proves her point, for even if you do listen amidst gray skies and drizzles, you will be soothed to the point of contentment. The opening strains of the wistful title track set the mood and ease you into Colvin's head and heart, as you embark on this journey with her to discover countless souls and their heretofore untold truths. On a album full of great songs, "Shotgun Down the Avalanche" still stands as one of her finest compositions, with its metaphoric imagery of riding an out-of-control emotional tide as one would cascade helplessly down a mountain of snow. The requisite troubadour-on-the-road tune, "Ricochet in Time," is made ever more poignant by Colvin's sleepy vocal track, bringing home the weariness that is a very large part of being an artist on tour. Steady On is a must have for anyone who loves acoustic music created in the grand tradition of Joni Mitchell and James Taylor, two legends Colvin now counts as contemporaries.

 Nick Heil, Amazon.com

The title track on Shawn Colvin's Steady On fits well as the folk singer's theme song. "I'm Gonna Keep My Head on Straight," she sings, "I Just Hope It's Not Too Late." That Colvin has been one of contemporary folk's most endearing performers not only underscores the subject of her songs but suggests her true appeal--heartfelt, often confessional lyrics and well-crafted melodies that evoke a broad palette of emotions. While she is strong on delicate balladry like "Shotgun Down the Avalanche," Colvin's forte is turning up the tempo and giving us folk songs with rock & roll gusto.

Personnel includes: Shawn Colvin (vocals, guitar); Bruce Hornsby, T-Bone Wolk, Rick Marottan, Soozie Tyrell, Bob Telson, Suzanne Vega.

Strong vocals, consistently well-crafted lyrics, accomplished musicianship, and forceful melodies comprise this impressive debut by Shawn Colvin. From the highly original opening title track, which features some of Shawn's most silky, fluid vocals, the listener is taken through a collection of first-rate songs, each building on the emotion and musical power of the last. Highlights include "Diamond In The Rough," "Shotgun Down The Avalanche" and "Something To Believe In." The songs show off Shawn's diverse influences; they are equal parts folk, pop, country and rock. Using a strong backbeat and a heavy lyrical side, Colvin expresses both angst and affirmation as she explores the paradoxes of love and relationships. This 1989 release won the "Best Folk Album" Grammy, but it is not a folk album in the traditional sense. In fact, it was one of the year's best rock albums. Shawn's breathy vocals and shimmering timbre, sharp rock arrangements, and perceptively astute lyrics bring this outstanding album to a high level of originality and quality. STEADY ON, Shawn Colvin forges ahead, breaking new musical ground.

She's been kicking around the club scene on the Eastern Seaboard for almost eight years now, and for all the hundreds of gigs she's played to pay her dues, one thing is certain: no one that's heard the haunting expressiveness of her voice and the riveting melodies of her songs has walked away from the experience unchanged. Working mostly within an acoustic (but not necessarily folk) setting, Shawn Colvin wraps her warm, distinctive vocal chords around ten richly resonant compositions; though signposts point to Suzanne Vega, the Peregrins, or what a solo record by one of the Indigo Girls might sound like, the spotlight here is all hers. A simple, unadorned approach to performing and production helps underscore the distinctiveness and agility in Colvin's soaring, soothing voice and the simple passions in her words. While it's true this is a debut, and thus has its occasional weaknesses, it's an album that was slowly conceived and lovingly built over eight years of steady work and solid preparation, and that's a big part of why it's such an effective introduction to Colvin's singular vocal sound. Top cuts: "Steady On," "Cry Like An Angel," "Stranded" and "The Story."

Colin Shearman, Q Magazine

Like autobiographical first novels, many singer/songwriters' debut albums often take themselves and their emotional lives a little too seriously. Shawn Colvin is too fine a lyricist to totally fall into that trap, but her tendency to dwell on past regrets does add slightly too melancholic an edge to this first collection of songs. What's more, although some of the subtle melodies grow, they don't quite match up to her skill with words or the album's lyrical insights ("It's just me and my well-intentioned spite"). It's all sung with the beginnings of that idiosyncratic intonation she used to such good effect on her recent album, Cover Girl, but, in hindsight, this remains a promising debut which has since been overshadowed by more confident - and more tuneful - later work.

© Frank Steven Groen