Cristina Vane’s Slide Guitar Takes Center Stage On ‘Make Myself Me Again’

Growing up, singer/songwriter Cristina Vane never really had one place to call home. Born of Sicilian, American, and Guatemalan heritage, the guitarist spent her childhood moving between England, France, and Italy, eventually attending college in the States. Most recently, she’s settled in Nashville—and now, on her third studio album, Make Myself Me Again, Vane is exploring what it means to reconnect with herself in a new, unfamiliar city where she seems to fit right in.

Make Myself Me Again is a vibrant showcase of Vane’s Delta blues fingerpicking and slide guitar style mixed with a touch of rock, her deft guitar work weaving into her equally intuitive vocals. Songs like the title track, “Sometimes Baby,” and “Old Enough” address a lyrical motif that centers on discovering a sense of self. On the whole, the album is vivacious—on guitar and voice, Vane finds a balance between being both unassuming and boldly outspoken in her expression.

Guitars on the album include a National resonator, a baritone Mule Resophonic Mulecaster—also known as a Posencaster—as well as a Gibson Les Paul. When she’s not in a solo guitar-and-voice setting, you can hear her playing clawhammer banjo on tracks like “River Roll” and “Time for Leaving,” and joining her on a handful of the songs are fiddlers Billy Contreras (Belà Fleck) and Bronwyn Keith-Hynes (Molly Tuttle). Between Vane and the ensemble appearances, Make Myself Me Again makes for a timeless take on country-rock and blues.

This article originally appeared in the November/December 2022 issue of Acoustic Guitar magazine.