It’s fitting that this collaborative album is being released in January, the traditional month of Celtic Connections festival where these three artists first performed together. In the spirit of Transatlantic Sessions these three women, two Scottish and one American come together to show that more unites us than divides us.
Individually Julie Fowlis and Karine Polwart have blazed a trail for women in Scottish folk music, helping to light a clear path forward for other artists to follow. Mary Chapin Carpenter has done the same in her own Americana/country sphere.
Each artist has a distinctive voice, a singular style of singing yet they share a common sense of empathy in their music. The record is hushed, soft, intricate, utterly beautiful. Opener in Gaelic ‘Gradh Gael Mo Chridhe’ is stunning, their voices echoing like a calling from across the ocean, from another time.
The beating centre of this record is ‘A Heart That Never Closes’, sung by Mary. Here she offers to share the load: ‘I’ll carry it for you / can you carry it for me?’. There’s a unity to the message and the vocals which feels so welcome right now. The weight of time also weaves through the themes of these songs. On the title track they search for answers, trying to make sense of life to help prepare for ‘dark roads’ that may come. The music on this track has a winter bleakness to it, weaving traditional Celtic sounds into a sparse folk arrangement yet together these three singers bring so much warmth.
Rebecca is a Karine Polwart penned tune, a song for a beautiful old tree. When the other two women bring their voices to offer support for the song something magical blooms. Growth, survival, renewal, hope is in every branch of this song. Karine also wrote the stunning ‘Hold Everything’, inspired by John Berger, a devastating song of women’s resistance and survival.
Alongside her two traditional songs in Gaelic, Julie Fowlis also sings her own song ‘Silver in the Blue’ in English on the album. It’s the story of the plight of the endangered Scottish salmon, but this is a perfect song of comfort for anyone navigating the choppy waters of life.
The most interesting song on the album is ‘Satellite’, written by Mary about the loneliness of an abandoned object in space. You wonder if there’s something of a metaphor here about the fate of some older women in the music industry – the satellite is lost, ignored, searching for home and trying to find an ending fitting for the start.
Closing track ‘Send Love’ offers us the central message of this album – send love out to others and what you receive in return will help you through.
While there are no shared songwriting credits on the album and they haven’t given themselves a name like some previous folk supergroups such as I’m With Her, the trio do plan to tour together. The project feels like a kind of songwriter round where each artist gets a moment to shine, all with the harmony support and collective embrace of the other two.
So if you’re needing a moment of calm, a light in this storm of life, a place to well, hold space, then ‘Looking for the Thread’ is the answer. After all music might be the only hope we have left to stitch this world back together again.
Highway Queens 
A beautiful and spot on review of a simply beautiful album. Cover to cover, it’s a winner. I haven’t been this moved by an album in years. Wow.
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It’s wonderful to know the album is resonating! Thank you for reading 🙂
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