A couple of reviews that take me a bit off piste from my normal offerings here.
Grace Morrison – Daughter
The press sheet that arrived with Morrison’s album says of her: “If folk, roots country and americana were on a Venn diagram, Grace Morrison would be squarely in the centre”. While genre’s get more fluid all the time, and are often unhelpful, I think it’s fair to say that the Venn Diagram for Grace Morrison has two circles, contemporary pop style country and more traditional country. She is conscious of this, and acknowledges it. Having written with Lori McKenna, and been, “enamoured with her and her writing process”, and with veteran Pedal Steel player Lloyd Maines on board, it was never going to be anything but.
And that’s fine. While she claims influence from the likes of Jewel, her songwriting, with or without McKenna, is streets ahead of the slightly drippy country/folk pedalled by Jewel and her like. Opening song ‘Daughter’ is filled with sentiments that nay father of a daughter will recognise, including the “Daddy you ere right… again”. ‘Small Town Lament’ is another great observational song, “I do one tiny little thing and everybody knows me”, which will get heads nodding from everyone who lives in a smaller community. ‘Sloppy’ is a straight out of the Taylor Swift pop/country jar, and along with ‘Things You Already Know’ would be a massive hit in a world where music still mattered. On the latter song she acknowledges the influence of 90s pop such as Boyz ll Men.
I’m not normally one for fairly straight country music, preferring a bit more grit of the sort that Morrison only delivers on ‘8. Put The Bottle Down’. But this is a fine album that acknowledges the troubled world we now live in, without becoming a specifically pandemic related album. This will be on the iPod for my holiday trip next week for sure.
The Artisanals – Zia
Far closer to the mid point of the folk/americana/country axis, this album starts of with the slightly histrionic ‘Fear to Fail’, but settles down a bit with ‘Heading Somewhere’, a far rockier song that sets the tone for much of the rest of the album. Allegedly “The Artisanals hold iconic predecessors Tom Petty, George Harrison, and Jackson Browne close to their chest”, and songs like ‘Always Taken Care Of’ have a Travelling Wilbury’s feel to them, right down to the toned down Jeff Lynne drum sound (patent pending). I’ve not had all that long to listen to this album so songs are still filtering into the consciousness, but it’s certainly going on the holiday iPod, and I’ll report back again closer to its September 3rd release date. Songs like ‘Driftwood’ and ‘violet Light’ are good enough that we can forgive frontman Johnny Delaware’s tendency to sound a bit like Bono, and indeed a lapse into U2 epic territory overall. Add this to your Bandcamp wishlist here, it will brighten your day as the nights draw in.
