With so much music landing on my desk I’ll again keep my comments brief and to the point. Next month I hope to have a new music blog up and running, wherein those who enjoy these comments will have plenty more to peruse. As always for those of us “old school” listeners, be sure to support your local independent music store.
Moon Taxi
Mountains, Beaches, Cities
Relativity Records
Following their 2012 breakthrough album Cabaret I couldn’t help but wonder in which direction this Tennessee quartet might go. As it turns out they’ve upped the ante with considerable verve, offering up an album that expertly balances intimacy with swagger.
Mountains Beaches Cities aims high and, for the most part, lives up to its own lofty ambitions. Produced in house by guitarist Spencer Thompson and keyboard wizard Wes Bailey, MBC sounds polished, deliberate, and exciting as all heck. Be it the wild exuberance of “The New Black” or “Running Wild” Moon Taxi continues to evolve at an impressive rate, sounding like a band far beyond their experience and budgetary limitations.
The end result is an album that is immediately accessible yet nuanced and intricate enough to sustain repeated listens. Put Moon Taxi on your list of bands to watch! ****
Don Williams
Reflections
Sugar Hill Music
Given that his career reaches into six decades, anyone approaching a new Don Williams album should have some notion of what to expect. Williams has rarely been interested in reinventing himself—and when he has the results have been less than stellar—preferring to instead refine an approach that has withstood many a trend and fashion.
Much like his vocal delivery, Williams’ career has been subtle, refined, and deliberate. At 76 years of age Williams has certainly slowed down a bit, curtailing his once promethean touring schedule, comfortable in maintaining his formidable legacy. Reflections (by my count his 35th studio offering!) demonstrates that to the hilt, finding Williams caught between the aches and pains of growing old and the grace and wisdom of looking back.
Among its ten tracks are somber ruminations on outliving your peers, making amends, and deciding how to move forward. It’s the latter of these, best summed up with “Back to the Simple Things” that gives Reflections its bounce, moments that reinforce the album as far more than an early eulogy. Likewise with “Stronger Back”, a testimony to Williams’ personal and artistic resolve.
Co-produced by Garth Fundis—a savvy veteran who knows how to stay current—Reflections features songs by Jesse Winchester, Merle Haggard, Townes Van Zandt, and Williams himself. It’s a tried and true formula that again shows Don Williams taking two steps onward by ever looking back. Long may he run. ***1/2
Angel Olson
Burn Your Fire For No Witness
Jagjaguwar Music
Angel Olson’s 2012 debut Half Way Home was a model of minimalist folk, quaint and highly engaging arrangements that reflected an aesthetic that leaned more towards the 50s than our current day. It was a mightily good effort but repeated listening suggested that it was merely the tip of an iceberg swollen with ideas.
Burn Your Fire for no Witness builds on that with assurance and audacity, expanding in numerous directions while finding a depth of emotion that its predecessor only hinted at. Some of the credit goes to producer John Congelton—whose sonic flourishes and adornments add sparkle and verve—while the rhythm section of drummer Josh Jaeger and bassist Stewart Bronaugh anchor the album with skill and taste.
But the biggest difference is how much Olsen has grown as a songwriter and vocalist. Her singing is both more deliberate and daring. She can raise the roof (“Forgiven/Forgotten”) or melt your heart (the epic “White Fire”) with equal confidence. Burn Your Fire rarely wavers, never feels the least bit artificial, and gives every suggestion that Angel Olsen will continue to push her creative boundaries for years to come. ****
Rob Nance
Lost Souls and Locked Doors
Spruce Pine may be better known for feldspar mining and small town charm but its geographic setting places it at a crossroads where the essentials of bluegrass, country and Americana mingle, and where Doc Watson is rightfully given the reverence he deserves.
Lost Souls and Locked Doors—the full length debut of singer/songwriter Rob Nance—was recorded in Boone and is the sort of down to earth album that would have made Doc proud. For the most part, its eleven self-written tracks are sparsely arranged, direct, and void of any fuss or bluster. Nance sings of the virtues of hard work (“Hand’s Like Mine”) and perseverance (“Ain’t Losing Yet”) with equal conviction and charm.
It’s a winning formula that shows how the basic combo of guitar/mandolin/and drums doesn’t have to sound predictable and can still toss us a twist or two. Nance’s vocal delivery is straightforward and appealing but can, when the occasion calls for it, rev things up a notch, as best heard in the early 70s Neil Young like romp “Light In The Dark.” All of which adds up to an album that sits on ground as rock solid as the mountains from whence it is spawned. ***1/2
Laura Cantrell
No Way There From Here
Spit and Polish Records
Laura Cantrell may be Nashville born and raised but her songs and sentiments are miles away from the glitter and glitz too often associated with Music City USA. It’s a style that hearkens back to the classic 1960s sides of Kitty Wells and Loretta Lynn, but does so with an awareness that could only come from living in this century.
Her songs may lean towards the sad but there’s always a sense of hope, a conviction that better times are sure to come. She’s willing to examine her own feelings, and does so with refreshing honesty in the delightful “All the Girls Are Complicated”, and has a knack for making her concerns sound both deeply intimate and universal.
Be it “singing in the kitchen with the radio on/pouring out my heart to an old love song” or finding herself powerless in the face of love, Cantrell continually surveys themes that reach across and explore the challenges we all face.
Her entire career has been a model of determination—she’s released a scant five albums in 14 years—but such scarcity only adds to the pleasures of each new release. These are uncomplicated tales of complicated people, and Laura Cantrell delivers them with the keen eye, ear, and heart of an artist who revels in value over measure.
Sure I wish she’d put out records more often but if in doing so she had to sacrifice some of the quality that inculcates No Way There From Here, then I’m more than happy to endure the wait. ****
Nate Jones Band
The Nate Jones Band EP
NJB Music
This five song set is the ideal introduction to Nate Jones and company, showcasing his energetic vocals, terrific five piece band and songs that make their point and get out of the way.
“Wandering Love” is a joyful romp that befits anyone who finds themselves head over heels while “Honest Man” might be the same gent six months later, realizing that relationships are hard work damn it, but finding himself committed to the long haul. His cover of The Band’s “Ophelia” might not reach the lofty heights Levon Helm bestowed upon it but his interpretation is no less valid and distinct.
While Jones’ own songwriting occasionally loses focus there’s more than enough wallop in these five songs to give strong suggestion of how good he might get. I love the EP format and dearly wish more bands would liberate their music in smaller and more manageable chunks.
In these days of digital domination, in which physical product is in danger of becoming some mere afterthought, EPs might just be the way to go. ***1/2