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Laura CantrellHumming By The Flowered Vine Matador/Remote Control/Inertia Laura Cantrell's love and commitment to country music flows right from the start of 'Humming By The Flowered Vine', and with one listen you know that it is something this Tennessee native/New York resident was born to. The ten songs, both 'crafted and caught', are in a simple, folk country style with the odd rock moment. Beyond the first listen subtle dynamics become evident, propelling a collection of songs which have one foot in the past and one in the present. The opener 14th Street is almost urbane in its breezy whimsy, the pop melody given southern twang by the lovely Laura. In the tradition that she helps keep alive not only in her own music, but through her long running Radio Thrift Shop show on New York community radio show WFMU (currently able to be heard online through BBC Scotland), there are songs by Cantrell herself, songs penned by friends, contemporaries, and the odd luminary. Letters, written by Lucinda Williams in the late seventies, is a slow burn song of longing as one approaches the mailbox. The traditional Poor Ellen Smith, is a real life murder ballad collected and documented by Cantrell's great-great-aunt, the "song-catcher" Ethel Park Richardson. It's upbeat mountain tempo belies the tale told from the bemused point of view of the would-be killer, the banjo and fiddle dancing a merry jig. Cantrell has changed the melody somewhat and it forms part of the fine suite of songs she has curated, the collection spanning horizons of American music history and heartfelt sentiments. For anyone the least bit curious about current streams in alternative country, Cantrell is one of its fireflies. Championed by John Peel, Cantrell topped his annual Festive Fifty early in the naughties and 'Humming By The Flowered Vine' is dedicated to his memory. Her sense of lament - country music's melancholic heart - is beautifully rendered in these songs of memory, of a southerner transported to the city.  |
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