Mavis Staples leads the week.
Mavis Staples
Sad and Beautiful World
She could so easily rest on her laurels, but she continues to push herself and her art ever forward. Always w a focus on justice at both individual and societal levels, she keeps on singing with a clarity and resolve that few have ever matched. Essential.
Karley Scott Collins
Flight Risk
With a strong POV as a writer and, significantly, as a co-producer, Collins foregrounds independent agency throughout these songs. She matches that perspective to a rock-edged (Church, McBryde) aesthetic that fits her raspy contralto. A killer and yes, risky debut.
Brad Mehldau
Ride into the Sun
(***1/2):
I love that Mehldau’s taking inspiration from the work of a modern folk icon like the late Elliott Smith. The arrangements here highlight the sturdiness of– and lean into the fundamental melancholy within– Smith’s compositions. An appropriately understated tribute.
Dallas Burrow
The Way the West was Won
A collection of down-home country blues that would do Ray Wylie Hubbard (one of several great guests here) proud, this set is perhaps just a little too textbook in its formalism, but that’s really a minor quibble when the individual tracks smoke like these do.
Ashley Cooke
ace
For a moment, she seemed like she was getting some mainstream traction, but there’s not really anything here that’s likely to build upon that. The writing and production lack any distinct identity, and she works just well enough in a limited vocal range. Forgettable.
Vince Gill
50 Years From Home: Secondhand Smoke [EP]
Does it matter that one of country’s current elder statesman recorded a set that’s mostly Normie Liberal sentiment? It certainly does. Does that mean the songs themselves are well-written? Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. A step down from Vol 1.
Vince Gill
50 Years From Home: I Gave You Everything I Had [EP]
The slight weathering on his voice actually suits him quite well and lends a bit more gravitas to this brief set of introspective cuts that dig into the importance of deep personal connection. The guitar-work is, of course, impeccable, too.
Kaitlin Butts
Yeehaw Sessions [EP]
Poised for her mainstream breakthrough, she’s proving that she is more than ready to meet her moment without sacrificing any of the force-of-nature persona or genre savvy that have made her a long-time favorite. “The Middle” is gorgeous here, too.
Terry Klein
Hill County Folk Music
Now here’s a comparison I don’t get to make often enough: For his impeccable songcraft, rough-edged vocals, barbed-wire wit, and profound empathy most of all, Klein’s latest recalls the very best of the great Darrell Scott. A masterful country-folk storyteller.
As a long time diahard Vince Gill fan, I’m obviously exstatic that he’s going to be releasing so much new music!
Interestingly, I like Vince’s second EP better than the first one. I liked the first EP, but I’d probably only give it 3 stars while I’d give the second one 4 stars.
I’ve loved “March On, March On” ever since I first heard him sing it on CBS This Morning and loved it even more when I heard it being well received when he performed it at the Grand Old Opry. So, I’m very happy that he made a studio reccording of it. I also love the song that he wrote with Mary Gauthier, which coincidentally, was inspired by a conversation that he had with Mavis Staples. And I also like the song that he wrote with Ashley McBryde.
I think both EPs would benefit from some tempo though. I’m hoping he doesn’t follow Mary Chapin Carpenter’s trend of sleepy albums, since his most recent full length album also lacked much for tempo .
I knew you’d have already listened to the two Gill EPs! Definitely agree about the lack of tempo and the Mary Chapin worry… We know he can still cut loose!
I’ll also add that I love the War and Treaty’s contribution to “March On March On”! Vince said in an interview that they wept during the recording session and I understand why.
Country music was better when Vince Gill was its moral compass.
This song coming from him is a gauntlet being thrown down.
I happened to hear the Kaitlin Butts’ cover of “The Middle” in a restaurant yesterday. I had never heard it, and initially I thought it was Kacey Musgraves.
The idea of hearing Kaitlin Butts in the wild makes me so very happy. I do believe that she’d get a legit AAA hit out of her cover of “The Middle” if her new label pushed it. And she does sound a *lot* like Musgraves on that one– they share a similar timbre that really shines on that cover!