a music blog
After a disappointing week for women in country music, what fans need is some new, young fresh blood, someone who has a bit of spark, personality and who can restore some faith in the future of the genre. Enter Willow Avalon with her new album Southern Belle, Raisin’ Hell.
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As a teenager growing up in the 90s I thought Kim Deal was cool in the best way – talented, fun and like she just didn’t give a fuck about anything. In the early 00s I met her while I was working at a venue she was playing at and she was super nice, even if a little out of it. She spoke of her addiction troubles during that time in a recent Guardian interview, saying ‘I would like to do those years again. I. Did. Not. Like. Them.”
What also resonated with me about that interview was how she spoke about the beauty of failure saying ‘…there’s something about trying to do something and then just getting utterly clobbered by life.’ If you’re not afraid of fucking up then you can do the unpredictable, like releasing your debut solo album at 63. In the end that fearless attitude has made ‘Nobody Loves You More’ a little triumph.
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A few years back I went to see Lindi Ortega play live in Glasgow, hoping to write a review of the show. I loved all her previous albums, especially the last one Liberty, and was looking forward to seeing her talent on stage.
Unfortunately a few songs into the show I realised something was off. At first it seemed like an issue with the sound mix, Lindi’s vocals being too high or perhaps she couldn’t hear herself sing. When she played acoustic or quieter songs her voice was perfect, beautiful. At other times, she sounded strained, a little out of time and tune. I felt unable to write any kind of review of the show, considering how much she was struggling.
The issue, it turned out, wasn’t confined to that one evening. Later she admitted to having issues with her in-ear monitors, which caused her to overcompensate and damage her voice. Soon she was terrified to play live and quit music altogether for four years.
But then after dealing with some difficult personal circumstances, she began writing songs again. With so much new music to share, she worked with vocal coaches to regain her confidence performing live.
The result of this work is ‘From the Ether’, an album of haunting, unusual songs on a ghostly theme. Somewhat surprisingly considering her issues, there’s a stripped back, sparse sound to the record. Her vocals are given time to breathe, to work their quiet magic again without the crushing sound of a full band.
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Susan Cain, in her brilliant book ‘Quiet’, celebrated introverts and argued ‘culture is biased against quiet and reserved people, but introverts are responsible for some of humanity’s greatest achievements.’
The problem with being ‘quiet’ unfortunately is that sometimes you don’t get noticed for what you’ve achieved. Those who can shout and dance and sell themselves, or who can pay others who can do this for them, grab most of the attention.
Twenty years have passed since Mindy Smith won the ‘Emerging Artist of the Year’ trophy at the Americana Awards, and twelve years since her last album. She’s been busy in that time, writing for others, working on songs, searching for herself in other ways by reconnecting with her birth family. This new album ‘Quiet Town’ is a welcome return and a chance to celebrate her quietly powerful artistic achievements.
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The insanely talented guitarist Yasmin Williams returns with her beautiful new album Acadia, inspired by nature and offering a dreaming autumnal soundtrack. Acadia means ‘Place of Abundance’ and here is a land of musical plenty.
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I know it sounds insane but Miranda Lambert begins her 10th album ‘Postcards from Texas’ by hitching a ride with a gun-toting armadillo, and that surreal song sums up where she is in her career: off the beaten track, free from expectations, back in her home state of mind, no longer caring too much about the Nashville establishment, ready to have a good time, driving off to whatever adventure seems interesting with her guitar and her buddies along for the journey.
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After the destruction of their Woodland Studios in the Nashville tornado of 2020, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings salvaged what they could of their past and soon began rebuilding. The result is this first recording of original music for many years. In a recent interview with Mojo magazine, Welch said of the album, ‘There is a renewal, but with stories and scars. I feel like a new shoot, tender…’ Woodland has that same fragility, reckoning with the darkness and light of midlife, finding hope in new growth.
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The slightly blurred cover of this new album from The Secret Sisters offers us something reassuring in this hyper focused online world – here’s a band and an album that’s out of focus in a good way, soft and quietly spoken, emotionally shaky because living in this world often makes you feel that way.
Continue reading “Album Review: Secret Sisters – Mind, Man, Medicine”
Earlier this year I was lucky enough to catch Kelsey Waldon supporting Margo Price at Celtic Connections festival, where she previewed this brilliant new album of bluegrass and old time music called ‘There’s Always a Song’.
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Highway Queens 