Minnie Driver

An actress wants to cross over into music. Choo-choo! You can just hear the train wreck coming. With most listeners going into it with such lackluster expectations, Minnie Driver's musical debut is sure to garner many “hey, it’s not as bad as I thought it would be” responses. And I’m here to report, it’s not as bad as I thought it was going to be. This is a singer/songwriter’s album, not an actress turned pop starlet for a day. Ms. Driver wrote all her own songs – mediocre and derivative as they are.

Minnie toes the line somewhere between country-tinged, heart-on-sleeve Gillian Welch and the modern pop-rock stylings of Dido and Aimee Mann. She doesn’t really deliver well on either style, but none of her eleven-track effort is unlistenable either. The only thing especially bad about the album is its title, Everything I’ve Got in My Pocket. Everything Minnie Driver has in her pocket? You mean her millions of dollars and her glamorous Hollywood life? You can’t give your album such a downhome, folksy name when you’re a famous actor. The standout track happens to be a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Hungry Heart” - mainly because, well, it's Springsteen’s “Hungry Heart.”

I think Minnie missed the boat. Where was this album during the Lilith Fair female singer/songwriter glut of the mid-'90s? Other than the handful of Minnie Driver devotees (there are some, right?), this album won’t find an audience. - Doug Kamin

According to her bio, Minnie Driver was a singer long before she ever became an actress. Accordingly, Everything I've Got in My Pocket, her first album, contains ten Driver originals and a cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Hungry Heart." The project began as an exhortation by producer Marc "Doc" Dauer, who had heard Driver's songs accompanied by her self-admitted "mangled" guitar playing. Dauer plays guitar and leads a band that includes multi-instrumentalist Rami Jaffee. As for the material, it's pleasant and the songs are ably written, and Driver can sing to boot. She writes all over the map, from the gently textured Americana of "Fast As You Can" to the suburban country-flavored "Home" to the lush folksy pop of "Invisible Girl," which feels like some slick teahouse session between Aimee Mann and Avril Lavigne. There's nothing wrong with anything here: it's pleasant, breezy, and gentle. But records come out like this every single day. These songs possess no edge -- nothing to distinguish them whatsoever other than that they were recorded by a famous actress. In addition, the Springsteen cover is an utter throwaway; she adds nothing to the song, and in fact drains the emotion from it. What does stand out is Dauer's fine, sympathetic production and his nuanced attention to detail, giving the record some weight and dimension. For the record, Driver is a developing songwriter, someone who is growing into her material and finding her way into her craft. But to be honest, anyone else would never get the chance to record a second record because there is not enough here to make this collection of songs notable. Celebrity has its privilege; should Driver go further, sharpening and developing her skills, it will have served her well. For now, though, she shouldn't quit her day job, because at this moment in time this is a curiosity piece and little more. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide