So what’s ‘TumbleWeedyWorld’ about then? Basically it’s about ten songs crafted by a superb songwriter, with musical arrangements that enhance the songs without submerging them and delivered in a beautifully clear fluty voice by Lynn Miles. But I suspect you’re expecting about another three hundred words before I put this one to bed.
With a back catalogue of fifteen albums, a collection of over nine hundred songs, a host of awards and covers by many artists, Lynn has deservedly been a fixture on the Canadian circuit for many years. ‘TumbleWeedyWorld’ is exactly the kind of album you would expect from someone with that pedigree.
The songs are so good that the album doesn’t need a huge production to make them work. The backbone of the arrangements is a traditional string band line-up of upright bass, fiddle, guitar and dobro. Add the exquisite harmonies and you have everything you need for an album of high lonesome-tinged country. In line with the minimalism of the arrangements, the album doesn’t feature a lot of solos, it’s much more about creating interesting textures. There are plenty of instrumental fills from the various players, but the only real solos are the laid-back banjo and mandolin efforts on ‘Hide Your Heart’ and the guitar solo on the rousing, uptempo ‘All Bitter Never Sweet’ which is a nod in the direction of Johnny Cash and June Carter’s ‘Jackson’. That particular couple also make an appearance earlier on the album.
It’s an album of sad songs which somehow manages to end on an optimistic note in the love song ‘Gold in the Middle’ with its effortless vocal and stripped-back arrangement emphasising the purity of the message. The remaining nine songs, with the exception of the relatively positive ‘Palomino’, are explorations of the ways that relationships can fail or the ways we can be hurt. If you want a couple of examples of Lynn’s mastery as a wordsmith, there are two songs that are absolutely packed with poetic imagery.
The opener, ‘Night Owl’, starts from the same situation as Oliver J Leiber’s Paula Abdul song ‘Opposites Attract’ before grim reality kicks in with the realisation that this relationship would never work. The heart-breaking ‘Johnny Without June’ explores the reality of being the one left behind after a long relationship is ended by death. It’s delivered in almost a Nashville style and, just in case you didn’t get the song’s references, it’s all made clear by two references to Johnny Cash songs in the song’s final four lines.
‘TumbleWeedyWorld’ is a polished piece of work from a great songwriter. Lynn Miles has taken a cold, hard look at the things that can go wrong for us in a screwed-up world and expressed them in words and music. However, she leaves room for optimism (or dodging the tumbleweeds) with ‘Palomino’ and the closing song ‘Gold in the Middle’. If you’re a fan of country in any of its many forms, you should give this gem of an album a listen.
‘TumbleWeedyWorld’ is out now on True North Records (TND802).
Here’s the lyric video for ‘Johnny Without June’:
“The Great Tomorrow” is Underhill Rose’s third album and it’s a lovely example of smooth and polished Americana with just an occasional hint of darkness to offer a little contrast. The three members, Molly Rose, Eleanor Underhill and Salley Williamson play guitar, banjo and bass respectively; they all sing and they divide the songwriting duties between them across the album (with the notable exception of one cover). Molly and Eleanor split the lead vocals almost equally but the true beauty of the gorgeous sound they make is in the blending of all three voices to create the beautiful harmonies that suffuse the album.
“The Great Tomorrow” won’t hit you like you a hammer blow; it’s a lot more subtle than that. Each soothing harmony, each plangent pedal steel fill, each yearning fiddle line is a shining thread in a rich, shimmering tapestry. You can appreciate the individual parts up close, but the true beauty only reveals itself when you see the whole picture. It may not be immediate, but it will stay with you for ever.
The settings for the songs on the album augment Molly, Eleanor and Salley’s guitar, banjo and bass with the traditional Appalachian fiddle and Dobro, and Nashville elements of pedal steel and Fender Rhodes to create a wonderful variety of arrangements from the classic banjo and fiddle combination of the haunting “Montana” to the unusual fiddle and Fender Rhodes combination on the lazy shuffle of “Whispering Pines Motel”. There’s a huge variety of lyrical moods on this collection, from the empty desolation of “My Friend” and the circle-of-life theme of “When I Die” to the backwoods outlaw tale of “Shine”. And there’s a joker in the pack as well; a cover of the Elliott Woolf song, “Straight Up”, made famous by Paula Abdul in the eighties. The first rule of covers club is ’make the song your own’ and that’s exactly what they’ve done, slowing down the tempo to a slow country rock feel and focussing the energy on a stomping pre-chorus; it’s exactly what a great cover should be.
A lovely album packed with deft and delicate touches and glorious harmonies throughout.
You can see Rose Underhill live in the UK in late April/early May at these venues:
April
Thursday 21st Half Moon, Putney (with Benjamin Folke Thomas)
Saturday 23rd Cranleigh Arts Centre, Cranleigh, Surrey
Wednesday 27th The Biddulph Arms, Biddulph, Staffordshire
Friday 29th Green Note, London
Saturday 30th Union Chapel, London (with Colin Hay)
May
Sunday 1st The Stables, Milton Keynes
Wednesday 4th The John Hewitt, Belfast (Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival)
Thursday 5th The Ivy, Naas, Co. Kildare
Friday 6th The Venue Theatre, Ratoath, Co. Meath
Saturday 7th The Bronte Centre, Rathfriland, N. Ireland
“The Great Tomorrow” is out on March 25th.
