Front Porch Welcome
In the ‘About’ details on Amber Cross’ website there is a
phrase that was interesting for a number of reasons, and here it is: Her old-time voice is
clear and captivating, like a strong muscle, fringed in lace.
Her voice is definitely interesting,
but the term ‘old-time’ seems itself too frail and elderly to capture its
distinctive essence. I do hear the roots of early Dolly and Tammy, but I also hear
Buffy St Marie sans warble, and at one point – I am not out of my mind – there was Janis
but not the raucous Joplin, just a lilt that is there is you listen carefully,
to both.
So I’m agreeing it is ‘clear and
captivating’ but then again I am concerned about the mixed metaphor of ‘muscle/lace’.
I don’t recognise either, the latter especially suggesting a finesse and/or delicacy
that is inappropriate. And ‘strong muscle’? That’s precisely a suggestive roar
she doesn’t use.
Anyway, I’m warmed up now. Nothing
like a little fight. And as this reference is on her site, I don’t want to
knock down any accolade and one that is obviously approved because Amber Cross
and this album are definitely distinctive. For me it is the perfect shine of
its simplicity: the Country tone intoned in those named precursors and
straightforward songs simply played and presented. It is pure folk in this
respect. Front porch and accompanied by the occasional guest player who just
happens by, or rather [I have to break the prosaic picture a little] the clear
talents of producer Ray Bonneville and players Gurf Morlix and the wonderful
Tim O’Brien. And let’s be clear, these guys aren’t actually just passing – they
are there for a reason.
Front porch voice, filling the night
with clarity. That’d be my description of this unadorned excellence. And here’s
the poetry of the chorus in the album’s title song:
With
my savage on the downhill so not to break my fall
I
move along the cattle trail across the canyon wall
I’m
a hawk eye on a sparrow, I’m onto your game
I
know which way the wind will blow before it begins to change
An album of superb songs, Bonneville's Lone Freighter's Wail is beautifully done.
