Why can’t back when happen again? Asks Melissa Carper on her new album, a question which could refer to bringing back the good old days musically as well as reigniting old flames. With its vintage country and western sound Daddy’s Country Gold shows that sometimes history repeats in the best kind of ways.
Carper’s voice is a mix of Billie Holliday, Janis Joplin and Patsy Cline which instantly charms and intrigues in equal measure. If you like the old timey style then you’ll find much to savour on this album, especially as the songwriting has quality to overcome any potential doubts about authenticity.
Shuffle onto the dance floor with Makin’ Memories – an irreverent tune about sober living, turning the drinking country song on its head. Remembering becomes the joy, memories of nights out no longer bring the fear.
Not all memories are good though, since on I Almost Forgot About You she’s haunted by the love she lost. It’s a divine lament, straight out of some glamorous Golden Era Hollywood movie.
The country gold of the title sums up Back When, full of cowboy boots and pedal steel. Old Fashioned Gal is a simple country love song about women loving women, a quietly revolutionary subject for the genre even now.
Since this is country music heartbreak is never far away, like on You’re Still My Love and It’s Better if You Never Knew. The vintage sound is eerily evocative, like discovering a lost classic album on vinyl from the back of the country section in the second hand record shop.
Lightly humorous songs like Would You Like to Get Some Goats?, My Old Chevy Van and I’m Musing You make listening to this album extremely enjoyable indeed.
Daddy’s Country Gold is a step back in time that never sounds old. A toe-tapping treat.
BUY: https://melissacarper.bandcamp.com/album/daddys-country-gold
Highway Queens 
Have you listened to Bella White’s album, Just Like Leaving? Also old-timey. Really good. (Came out last fall, but I only stumbled upon it last week.)
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