Certainly our favorite (and the lone) female member of the legendary Bobs, red-headed ball of energy Amy Engelhardt brings us a surprising, powerful one-woman show in 'Not Gonna Be Pretty.' Surprising, for one who has spent so much of her musical career in a cappella, for all of this recording to be lightly-to-heavily accompanied, and surprising, because all music and lyrics are by Amy, whose writing contributions to Bobs albums were excellent but not extensive. Not surprising, that every one of these 13 songs is a funny-sexy-insightful-hip-refreshing-autobiographical-poetic-rocking winner! 'Like Me,' 'Are You Dead or Are You Undead,' 'Best Years of Your Life,' 'Cheeese-Denied,' 'Pothole,' 'Already Dead,' 'Idaho,' 'Autobiography,' 'Grounded,' 'I Carry You,' 'Anywhere Else But Me,' 'What Do You Look Like' and 'Ounce of Hope' have these things in common: Amy sounds great, they touch and move us, they take major chances and, in every instance, pull it off. And the dreaded accompaniment, a cappella fans? It's beautifully done. We've always thought that, in terms of talent, artists we consider to be a cappella 'stars' are a major cut above most artists who depend on accompaniment. 'Not Gonna Be Pretty' is solid proof that this is the case, and we hope it brings Amy all the success and attention it deserves, in both worlds.

Listen to Pothole in RealAudio.