Gretchen Peters - Blackbirds (2015) {Scarlet Letter Records}

Gretchen Peters - Blackbirds (2015) {Scarlet Letter Records}

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© 2015 Scarlet Letter Records | SCARLCD10

Americana / Folk / World / Country

Songwriter Gretchen Peters is a go-to for artists seeking material whose lyric depth matches its hooks. She continually goes into the marrow, revealing secrets that result in defining decisions and cathartic actions. This is especially true of her own recordings and Blackbirds takes these to an entirely new level, one shared with peers like Mickey Newbury (It Looks Like Rain) and Bruce Springsteen (Nebraska). Here she explores mortality with an unflinching gaze through a variety of unique character perspectives and musical styles. The album was co-produced by the artist with keyboardist Barry Walsh and guitarist Doug Lancio (bassist Dave Roe and drummer Nick Buda round out the band's core). The title is a murder ballad onbe of three tunes co-written with Ben Glover. Lancio's grimy, distorted guitar recalls Neil Young's with Crazy Horse. Walsh's organ and guest Will Kimbrough's slide mandola color a brooding narrative that explodes in an unrepentant chorus and startling conclusion. "When All You Got Is a Hammer" is a rocker with Kimbrough tempering the tension with his charango. Jerry Douglas adds dobro and Jason Isbell a backing vocal, in a chilling tale about a war veteran unable to cope: "Well they show you how to shoot and they show you how to kill/But they don't show what to do with this hole you can't fill…" Poignancy is equally resonant on songs with gentler approaches. "The House on Auburn Street" -- with Kim Richey on backing vocals -- is a lilting tome to an absent friend. It frames the irony of suburban America as the mirror for darkness, addiction, and violence. The roaming Americana in "When You Comin' Home," a duet with Jimmy LaFave, is a narrative about lovers separated due to one's slavery to street life and substance abuse. On "Jubilee," Peters sings country gospel accompanied only by Walsh's piano and David Henry's cello. Her protagonist accepts death as the spirit, freed from the body's prison can to return to the love from whence it came. "Black Ribbons," a brooding Cajun-tinged folk-blues, evolves into a roiling rocker. Pump organ, accordion, electric guitars, banjo, and drums frame the a protagonist saying a dark and helpless, despairing goodbye to his wife in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The lone cover here, David Mead's tender but steely "Nashville," is about another kind of death -- a relationship's. "The Cure for the Pain" is set in a hospital room during the waning moments of life. Peters' protagonist experiences angerat her plight yet moves toward acceptance and the peace it brings. While it would be a fitting conclusion, Peters, a Nashville Songwriter's Hall of Famer, knows that life is messy. The title song is reprised with a different arrangement as a bookend. Blackbirds is dark and unsettling, but it's far from depressing. It is a profound, poetic, career-defining album from a singer and songwriter of the highest order. More INFO tracklist: 01 - Blackbirds 02 - Pretty Things 03 - When All You Got Is a Hammer 04 - Everything Falls Away 05 - The House on Auburn Street 06 - When You Comin' Home (Featuring Jimm LaFave) 07 - Jubilee 08 - Black Ribbons 09 - Nashville 10 - The Cure for the Pain 11 - Blackbirds (Reprise)