Arts & Entertainment
 

Annie Lin proves that girls really can rock

On the scenes

Dusti Rhodes
 

It might be hard to believe that a girl who writes alt-folk songs does so because she wanted to be in a metal band, but that is exactly why Annie Lin picked up a guitar almost four years ago.

"I used to date this guy and he was in a band and it was the first person I had ever met that played guitar and I just thought it was the coolest thing ever. I always wanted him to teach me guitar and I wanted to like -- be in his band," Lin said. But when Lin asked him if she could be in his band, his response not only troubled Lin, it inspired her.

"(He said) 'No. Girls can't play in a metal band.' So I didn't get to be in his band," said Lin. But Lin decided that she didn't need his band and instead opted to teach herself guitar and play on her own. 

Although Lin said her ex was not the sole motivation behind her decision, his comment was a driving force in the beginning.

"I wouldn't say it's the only reason, but I just remember those words," Lin said. Although she doesn't play metal, Lin has proved with her music that anyone can withstand degradation with determination. 

Lin said she started playing guitar when she was a freshman at Rice University and "really took to it."

I learned really fast. I started playing, and then I started writing songs in a month of when I started playing," Lin said. She would ride her bike to The Mausoleum, now Helios, with her guitar strapped on her back to play on open mic night. 

These days the native Californian and current UH law student needs more than a bicycle to carry her and her guitar to the new stages in her life, she has played all over the United States and sold out shows at venues like The Bitter End in New York City and the Last Day Saloon in San Francisco. 

Her folk style has won acclaim in local and national media and on April 16; she will release her third album, Truck was Struck. 

Lin's style on Truck covers a large span of renowned female artists. Lin said that in the beginning Lisa Loeb was one her biggest inspirations, but at the time she began to write more music she also began to discover more artists. 

Her sound is an evident expression of her diverse tastes with her style simulating Mary Lou Lord, Ani DiFranco, Elizabeth Elmore and, as much as she may dislike it, early Jewel.

When she appears on stage as "girl and guitar," Lin said many first-timers may expect to hear the same old thing.

"They expect me to warble sweetly about my heartaches," Lin said. 

Lin's challenge as an artist has been to rise above the pretense that she is nothing more than a damsel of distress.

With her new album Truck, Lin creates more than a simple collection of melancholy mopes of a morose musicmaker with what she said is "sort of concept album" about a car wreck. The car wreck, Lin said, is more of a metaphor for conflicts between people.

"Whether it be a personal relationship or a romantic relationship -- people collide and the collision produces different results each time. That's what makes life interesting," Linn said. 

Lin said she first got the idea for Truck during her first year in law school when she took a class called Torts. Lin said she had to read so many cases about tragic events that she said she became desensitized by "the neutral language of legality." In Truck, Lin used her studies in law to examine the aspects of relationships, making for an interesting listen and perspective. 

Rhodes writes a weekly column about local arts & entertainment.  
 Send comments to dcshobiz@mail.uh.edu